As mulheres trabalhadoras em luta pelos espaços de poder no Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos do ABC

Abstract

This study discusses the participation of women workers in the ABC Metalworkers Union, approaching the persistence of gender asymmetries in base metallurgic and in the trade unionism. For the development of research, we attended the 2nd ABC Metallurgical Women Congress, in March 2010, analyzed union items publicized and conducted interviews with the SMABC´s women militants. We observed claims for equality on labour conditions and wages between women and men, affirmative action policies aimed at increasing the number of women hired for more valued positions in companies category, incentives to greater participation of women in political education program and the developing of a gender policy, quota systems to ensure a greater presence of them in all the union spheres, especially in positions of power to decide. Besides, women militants life stories allowed us to verify the challenge to the women workers reconcile marriage with engagement in the trade unionism. Despite the traditional defense of labor rights and citizenship, SMABC does not take on the gender relations as a priority, showing that the metallurgic culture is very resistant to changes in traditional patterns of women and men coexistence.