Precarious par excellence: a feminist view of the precariousness of rural work in Uruguayan citriculture

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the precarization of women in the Uruguayan rural labour market from a feminist perspective, taking as a case study the female agricultural workers in the production of citrus fruits in the northwest region in Uruguay. It is a qualitative research carried out between 2012 and 2014 in the departments of Paysandú and Salto, based on in-depth interviews with agricultural waged workers and key informants. First, different approaches and aspects of the precarization of work are identified, and background information on precarious work in Uruguayan agriculture is reviewed. Then, the category is discussed from a feminist perspective. The economic, social, legal and political aspects of precarization are analysed, taking as a unit of analysis both precarious jobs and women in precarious labour conditions. The research findings show the extremely poor working conditions of agricultural workers in citrus production, and the aggravating factors for women when a feminist perspective is adopted. The research concludes that women are precarious par excellence when they enter the citrus industry as agricultural workers, reaffirming the non-exceptionality of the Uruguayan case in comparison with the rest of Latin America. Finally, the hypothesis is put forward that the trend towards an increase in the female labour force and the fact that women predominate in the most precarious jobs would account for an on-going process of feminization of precarization in the Uruguayan rural labour market.