So, where are the women? Another look at rural unionism

Abstract

Since 2005, with the change of government administration and the expansion of rights for the rural sector, many investigations have focused on rural unions. So far, however, these have not wondered where women are. In this article, I make explicit a feminist perspective in research. I look forward to have an impact on problematizing other struggles within rural unionism, where the forgotten of the earth become protagonists. This research interrogates what happens when the image of a union stops beings materialized in the figure of a male worker, when we focus on searching for where women are and what actions they are taking in their struggle against exploitation. In this way, this research investigates the constraints they face as female workers in their experience of struggle. To answer these questions, this research analyzes acts of insubordination experienced by women who work in the rural phase of the citrus sector in Uruguay, in the locality of Paysandú. In the analysis of their struggle as women, within another struggle as members of rural unions, and widening the approach with a look at the broader trade union movement, there is evidence that the problem brought into consideration here is not a women’s issue, but a feminist issue.