ILPC 2027

Drawing on participant observation situated in one of the biggest tomato processing factories in Turkey, informal interviews with women workers, and an in-depth interview with the general manager of the factory, this paper explores how ‘Red’[i] tomato processing factory manages its labour by constructing the masculinities and femininities in the shop floor. Masculinities and femininities are constructed in the labour process by the intersections of gender, class, age and educational background – of workers as well as managers. The paper argues that the factory management does not deal with femininity and sees it as an impediment to modern production for Japanese market. Therefore, Red masculinises women working in warehouse and/or machine sections and continue to humiliate its feminine workers working in the production lines.

The paper departs from Salzinger’s (2003) influential study showing that masculinities and femininities are made in the shop floor by situated visions of managers and contributes her study by showing how Red’s’ managers’ visions are shaped by their external ideologies serving to construction of masculinities and femininities in the shop floor. 

Reference:

Salzinger, L. (2003) Genders in Production: Making Workers of Mexico’s global Production. California: University of California Press.