Rural labor unions and gender: an organizational and feminist approach of an uruguayan rural labor union

Abstract

This article deals with the feminist organizational diagnosis of a labor union of citrus´ harvesters in the department of Salto, Uruguay. In order to carry out the research, we used combined methods with which we analyzed the citrus sector based on a case study approach. The aim of the study was to analyze the union organizational factors favoring or preventing equal participation of male and female workers in the rural union. The text is structured in four sections. In the first section, the pertinence of a feminist organizational approach is made explicit by reviewing the antecedents and putting into dialogue classical studies on organizational theory and feminist theory. The second deals with the feminization of the labor force and contractual intermediation as characteristics of the conformation of the labor market and the organization of work in the citriculture of Salta. The third section focuses on the case study, dealing with the history of the trade union and the organizationalstudy itself. Finally, a series of core problems are identified that constitute barriers to women's participation in the labor union, concluding that gender inequalities in the world of rural salaried work are perpetuated in the rural union organization.