Experiences of Being a Couple and Working in Shifts in the Mining Industry: Advances and Continuities

Abstract

In this study, we sought to understand, from a gender perspective, the experiences of mining couples in Antofagasta, Chile, especially the balance between their intimate lives and the absences of their partners due to the shift work modality. We analyzed testimonies from men and women living in Antofagasta, which is considered to be one of the world’s three largest mining regions. Among the main findings, power relations based on the hegemonic gender model supported by the sexual division of labor were identified, which persist in this mining area, despite progress in gender equality issues in Chile. Although there are differences between the discourses of men and women and their subjective positioning, we propose that both actively collaborate with the reproduction of social gender relations marked by male domination. We propose that the way in which couples live is associated with the organization of mining work and especially the shift system, which is central to the reproduction of the gender order with a heteropatriarchal tone.