Resumen

CASTILLO, Sandra Fernández. ¡Las uvas de la ira!: Geografía, género y agroindustria en Chile. Rev. Univ. geogr. [online]. 2007, vol.16, n.1, pp. 179-199. ISSN 1852-4265.

Chile has applied a "Californian model" as regards the composition of agricultural labour, i.e. the utilization of a large labour pool of hired labourers. In the Chilean case that cheap labour pool is made up of women since fruit or vegetable picking and packing tasks are considered as 'natural feminine' ones. Those tasks are usually less remunerated than their male counterparts ones because they are classified as unskilled. The aim of this paper is to introduce a theoretical discussion concerning development, geography and gender, by illustrating with the case of the ongoing process within the agro industry in Chile. One dimension that this paper will treat is the implications that the increasing presence of women in agricultural work -the process of 'going-out-to-work'- has for female participation in the public/political sphere, previously considered an exclusive male domain area in Latin America. One contribution of this study will be to apply a theoretical framework within gender geography, previously applied to urban areas in the developed countries, this time to a rural area in Latin America while just introducing the reader into the fieldwork area where the study has been conducted. The paper ends by bringing up a discussion around the central issues presented through the text, showing how the process of rural transformation that is taking place in the region, present a contradictory outcome, at least as regard to gender and development issues, something that could certainly apply to some other areas of Latin America.

Palabras llave : Development; Gender Geography; Agro Export; Seasonal Agricultural Labour; Maule Region.