The experience of women factory workers in the Trade Union of Workers in the Footwear Industry of Franca in the 1980s

Abstract

The city of Franca-SP has in the shoemaker industry its main economic activity, being one of the biggest producing centers of footwear of the country. Women workers occupied a remarkable position in this process of industrialization of the city, composing about 40% of the work force used in this shoemaker industry. However, it occurs that the history of the working class of the city had been written principally in the masculine, it ignoring the experiences of the women workers. In this article, analysed the participation of women workers in the Shoemakers’ union in the decade of the 1980s, the period of the formation of new unionism in Franca.