A considerable proportion of the research conducted within the developing field of deindustrialisation studies has focused on the loss of work in industrial closures, and on the attachments that long-serving workers feel to their former workplace. This article focuses instead on the phenomenon of constrained mobility which often occurs as companies restructure and workers are offered a choice between redundancy or relocation to another site. Steven High (2003) has examined the ‘transplanted identities’ of male workers who had moved repeatedly as plants downsized and closed across the American rust belt, highlighting a group who styled themselves as the ‘I-75 gypsies’ (after the interstate highway that runs through Michigan and Ohio). Forging a new identity articulated in terms of mobility rather than place, these men constructed a new version of heroic working-class masculinity as they moved from site to site. This article draws on a case study of the Moulinex domestic appliance company in north western France to examine how such mobility has been experienced by women workers in a region beyond the industrial heartlands. In doing so, it considers the particular relationship to place that was constructed as companies like Moulinex established factories in rural regions of France after the Second World War and the implications of this for work-based identities. The article highlights the intersecting effects of age and gender, the significance of the gendered division of labour for women's experiences of mobility, and the extent to which identities were reshaped as women moved to stay in work.

在去工业化研究的发展领域中进行的相当一部分研究都集中在工业关闭中的工作岗位流失以及长期服务的工人对以前工作场所的依恋上。本文重点关注的是流动性受限的现象，这种现象在公司重组时经常发生，员工可以在裁员或搬迁到另一个地点之间做出选择。史蒂文·海伊（Steven High，2003）研究了随着美国铁锈地带工厂规模缩小和关闭而多次搬迁的男性工人的“移植身份”，强调了一个自称为“I-75 吉普赛人”的群体（以州际高速公路命名）。穿过密歇根州和俄亥俄州）。这些人在流动性而非地点方面塑造了一种新的身份，在从一个地点搬到另一个地点时，构建了一种新版本的英雄工人阶级男性气概。本文以法国西北部的 Moulinex 家用电器公司为例，探讨工业中心以外地区的女工如何经历这种流动性。在此过程中，它考虑了像 Moulinex 这样的公司在第二次世界大战后在法国农村地区建立工厂时所建立的与地点的特殊关系，以及这种关系对基于工作的身份的影响。文章强调了年龄和性别的交叉影响、性别分工对女性流动经历的重要性，以及随着女性继续工作而重塑身份的程度。