TERRITORY LOGGING THROUGH ITS FEMALE WORKERS. APPROACHES AND REFLECTIONS ON THE HYDROCARBONS INDUSTRY AT SAN JORGE GULF BASIN

Abstract

This paper is part of a research project that aims to address the complex world of oil work that takes place in the San Jorge Gulf Basin in the Argentine Patagonia, from a gender perspective. The hypothesis that guides the research indicates the hydrocarbon universe of the region as a highly heterogeneous social interwoven. This heterogeneity is also reflected (perhaps paradigmatically) in female participation in the sector. From in-depth interviews, we reconstructed the work trajectories of women linked to the hydrocarbons industry in Comodoro Rivadavia.

In an industry perceived as predominantly masculine, it is not easy to define who can be understood as oil workers, when the qualification of "oil tankers" is usually reserved for men. For this, we share the methodological challenges of approaching the oil complex in search of its female workers. Thus, we present dilemmas, reflections and findings of a field work crossed by reflexivity. In order to identify these women, their practices and displacements, it was necessary to recognize our own positions in the social space.

Three typical profiles found among our interviewees are indicated to interrogate about their representativeness and provisionality, while the in-depth analysis guides us to the identification of common features among those that at first seem very different.