“Es mi única responsabilidad, y hacerlo mal ¿Te imaginas?”: imaginario social y subjetivo de género en hombres trabajadores de una transnacional minera en el estado de Oaxaca

Abstract

The objective of this work is to analyze, from a feminist perspective, the formation of the social and subjective gender imaginary of working men in the extractive corporation Compañía Minera Cuzcatlán, in the municipality of San José del Progreso, Valles Centrales region, in the state of Oaxaca. Through semi-structured interviews, the findings show that being a man is closely linked to economic provision and protection of the family. Both of these are combined as a mandate that sustains masculine subjectivity and the social imaginary of gender, as well as the assigned identity and social role. Likewise, mining work is associated with the strength and endurance that the male body supposedly harbors in this work environment, whose conditions are adverse. The strength and resistance of men’s bodies distinguishes the work they do compared to women, even when the technology used does not demand the work traditionally performed by miners; this assumption prevails even in men who perform administrative tasks and in areas other than where the mineral is extracted. What this idea produces is a reinforcement and hierarchy between genders in current mining.