GÊNERO E VIOLÊNCIA NA EXPERIÊNCIA DAS TRABALHADORAS DA INDÚSTRIA DO VESTUÁRIO

Abstract

In this work I present the main results of a research on the situations of violence faced by women of the garment industry in their workplace. The garment sector is characterized by intensive use of labor, precariousness and low wages. In addition, the work process is quite taylorized and deeply marked by the sexual division of labor. Thus, although it is a sector composed mostly of women, they are concentrated in the low hierarchical levels, with a significant wage difference in relation to men. Thus, women, exposed to greater vulnerability, are the main victims of violence in the workplace, mainly suffering moral and sexual harassment. To understand this scenario, the research was conducted based on the concepts of gender, patriarchy and violence, as elaborated by Heleieth Saffioti. According to this theoretical framework, the results indicate that violence in the garment sector is associated with a notion of femininity and that it is intensified in the articulation with social relations of class, race, and sexuality. I also argue that, although constantly threatened and violated, these women are capable of building strategies of resistance, thus fleeing their gender destinies.