MULHERES NO ESPAÇO POLÍTICO SINDICAL: Um Estudo de Caso no Sindicato dos Trabalhadores das Instituições Federais de Ensino – SINDIFES

• Main Authors: Anália das Graças Gandini Pontelo, Marlene Catarina de Oliveira Lopes Melo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculdade Integrado de Campo Mourão 2016-08-01
• Series: Perspectivas Contemporâneas
• Subjects: power and gender relations; glass ceiling; trade unionism in Brazi; ; women and trade unions; movements for rights
• Online Access: http://revista.grupointegrado.br/revista/index.php/perspectivascontemporaneas/article/view/1986/817

Historically, gender inequality, with women having few pportunities to reach senior positions in trade unions’ broad of directors, can be largely observed in Brazilian unionism. This study puts forward an analysis of the power and gender relations present in the way to access the office of general coordinator at the Sindicato dos Trabalhadores das Instituições Federais de Ensino [Union of Workers of the Education Federal Institutions] (Sindifes). Sindifes is a trade union based at the city of Belo Horizonte which represents workers of federal institutions of higher education. The main objective of this research is to investigate the breaking of the glass ceiling, an invisible barrier that hinders the rise of women to leadership positions, and its manifestations in the process of women rising to such positions. With this in mind, semi structured interviews were conducted with eight of the nine women who occupied the position of Sindifes’ general coordinator, since its creation in 1992.It was noticed that sexual division of labor and women’s struggle for rights segregates them from the decision-making positions and from political disputes. In conclusion, it is necessary to consider the daily lives of these women who adjust their political, professional and personal aspects of their lives, when they are also responsible for balancing family and home.