Home work in Chile: New configurations of an ancient form of women’s work

Abstract

This article centrally refers to the forms of control and response-resistance of homeworkers in the manufacturing sector, specifically in the textile and paper envelope manufacturing sectors in Chile. The methodological strategy wasqualitative, by conducting interviews with different actors. The process was accompanied by the analysis of household surveys. Regarding the results, we highlight the functionality of the TaD in preserving the performance of care work and domestic tasks; and as for the control registers, these occur in an articulated way between procedural and subjective forms; standing out in a first sense, the so-called «work to deal» and «piecework», as forms of control and subjection to work; and in a second, stories of autonomy in determining working times, which we consider relative; and that they ultimately obscure the precariousness and exploitation that characterize these persistently feminized forms of work.