Tactics and strategies of women workers in the service sector in Chile facing the conflict, union participation, employment and care

Abstract

This article addresses the conflict of union participation, employment and unpaid care work of workers from two unions in the service sector in Chile. This analysis is carried out in the context of the increase in female unionization in the country by investigating the complexities and conflicts of joint responsibility for unpaid care activities, employment and union participation, as well as the strategies that women develop to face them. This work contributes in a different direction from the few current national investigations about female union participation, which emphasize their exclusion and marginalization. For this, semi-structured and group interviews are carried out with trade union women of different ages in the Metropolitan Region. The study shows the development of tactics and strategies of resistance by women to face the conflict in the three areas indicated, which affect their positioning in the union sphere, accompanied by rearrangements in the domestic sphere and a process of growing empowerment.