People or tools that sweep, or in some contexts, players in sports like curling or badminton positioned to guard a defensive area.
From Old English 'swapan' meaning 'to sweep.' Added the agent suffix '-er' for people who sweep, then '-s' for plural.
In curling, the 'sweeper' does one of the most physically demanding jobs—they run back and forth while swinging brooms, burning almost as many calories as the athletes skating!
Domestic sweeping roles were feminized and devalued as 'women's work,' while street sweepers and sanitation workers (historically male-dominated) carried different social weight. Occupational gendering shaped prestige of the same labor.
Use job title or context-specific term ('janitor,' 'custodian,' 'sanitation worker') rather than gendered occupational label.
["custodian","sanitation worker","cleaning staff"]
Women who professionalized cleaning and sanitation work—from Florence Nightingale's hygiene reforms to modern environmental justice advocates—transformed public health; their contributions often uncredited in labor histories.
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