Heavy work with a feminine touch
Women are increasingly present at Brazil’s industrial districts, prepared to do all kinds of work
written by ◦ Luciana Moglia, Daniella Leite and Miucha Andrade photos by ◦ Christian Cravo and Eneida Serrano

In the Cabula district of Salvador, Bahia, Jamile Cássia dos Reis, 26, gets up at 4:30 am, spends an hour commuting to the industrial district in the town of Camaçari, and starts her shift at the Braskem Vinyls Unit at 7:00. In the course of her work at the plant, she routinely carries heavy hoses, climbs up towers, and opens and closes valves. She is also the Emergency Brigade’s first woman driver. Jamile is just one example of the growing number of women working at Braskem’s industrial units in Bahia, Alagoas and Rio Grande do Sul, doing jobs that until recently were exclusively held by men.

Women started arriving at the Bahia industrial district in 2000, when a group of interns was trained to work at three factories that are now Braskem units (Basic Feedstocks, Vinyls and Polyolefins). Today, Jamile works alongside 17 men. “They all wanted to help teach me the job, and because of that I learned fast. Bit by bit I was able to do anything they could do.” She joined the fire brigade and was invited to drive her unit’s truck, which is called belezura (gorgeous). “The guys used to kid around and say women can’t drive, but I put an end to that.”

The fire brigades take part in weekly training sessions, and the drills are equally tough for men and women. Braskem brigade members wear 20 kg of gear, including their uniforms and individual protection equipment, and carry 14 kg of pressurized water in the fire hoses. Their gear weighs up to 40 kg when wet.

Women are not allowed to wear necklaces or large earrings on the job, but they still manage to add some feminine touches. “We wear headbands so our hair isn’t mussed when we take our helmets off,” says Jamile. After training sessions with the fire brigade and on rainy days, they head for the beauty parlor. “I go there for facials and have my hair and nails done every day – manicures and pedicures.”

Karen de Souza Rocha, 24, works at the Basic Feedstocks Unit. She met her husband at the polytechnic school. They both work at Braskem, doing the same job. “We have made a place for ourselves in industry and opened the door for other girls,” she says.

Karen is one of the two women working with 50 men as operators at the Olefins II plant. “There is no difference between us on the job, except that we start acting differently when they enter the room; for example, we moderate our language,” says senior operator José Antônio Nonato, one of Karen’s co-workers.

Gélio Justino, a specialized operator at the Basic Feedstocks unit, started working at Camaçari in 1972, and watched the industrial district grow without a single woman working on the factory floors. Then, in 2000, he was given the challenge of training Karen. “Her performance on the job is just the same as the men’s. Women can do anything, and they’re always welcome here.”

Rosa Maria de Araújo, 25, is an operator at the Polyolefins Unit working at the Polyethylene II plant in Camaçari. She started out working on the extruder machine, which transforms polyethylene powder into pellets at a temperature of 200ºC. “I really liked doing heavy work because it was something no woman had done before. It became challenge. We’ve arrived and we’re here to stay,” she says.

According to Rosa, unlike most people, she prefers the graveyard shift, which starts at 11 pm and ends at 7 am. “When I work nights I can enjoy the days – I go to the beach, the mall and hang out with my boyfriend.” And Rosa can see the results of her work when she leaves the Braskem plant. “When I’m home, I see things made from the materials I produce at work. Every time I use a plastic bag or anything made from polyethylene, it reminds me how important my job is.”

Following in Bahia’s footsteps

In the state of Alagoas, nine women are working as operators at the Chlor-Alkali and PVC plants and CINAL – Companhia Alagoas Industrial. Although the men were skeptical at first, they are now thankful for the color and feminine charm that the women’s presence brings to the workplace. The women have not let them down and are showing that, with willpower and personal planning, they can do a good job and add something extra: sensitivity and grace.

The operators’ daily routine isn’t easy. The equipment is heavy and the materials must be handled with care. The female operators, Savia Kelly Bida, Vanessa Guimarães, Márcia Inácio de Carvalho and Janaína Karina Cordolino – all in their early 20s – have developed a new way of handling their personal and professional lives on the many different shifts they work. Savia is an operator at the Chlor-Alkali plant’s maritime terminal, and her job involves working with pressure pumps, handling heavy hoses connected directly to the ships, and operating a crane. She is responsible for hooking up hoses to the ships that dock at Braskem’s terminal to load and unload products. “With the help of our more experienced co-workers, we can learn faster and ensure that we do our jobs safely without environmental, personal or safety risks,” she says.

Dirceu Alves de Andrade, the PVC plant supervisor, is very pleased with the women’s performance: “They are dedicated and thorough; punctual and aware. The effort they make to overcome the matter of physical strength is an added stimulus.”

Unlike Alagoas and Bahia, the women working at Braskem’s unit in Rio Grande do Sul are not yet operating the plant. There are also few female engineers. Just one woman is a shift worker at the plant. However, the Triunfo Unit’s team now includes the first female worker hired at Camaçari, a unit that now has many women working at its plants.

Silvana Piazza Daudt, 37, received a post-secondary school diploma in chemistry in 1988 from the São João Batista Liberato Salzano School in Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul. She found an opportunity to get a job requiring her qualifications in 1992. Her husband had got a job at Camaçari, Bahia, just when the company then called Poliolefinas was recruiting workers from the southern state to work at its new Polyethylene Unit. The openings were for shift work, and only men were being hired. “They didn’t want me. They said women were too weak, and got sick all the time. But I won that opportunity,” she recalls. Silvana was hired as a trainee and spent four years at Camaçari, working shifts at the laboratory. There were no women at all in the control room.

“People saw me as an intruder at first, but they soon got over it. I had to make a place for myself. Sometimes, us women are the ones who create barriers for ourselves. If I have to carry a 25-kg sack, I’ll do it.”

Silvana observes that, although Braskem treats men and women the same, including equal pay for equal work, the men feel obligated to help women out when any physical effort is involved. “They insist on carrying heavy weights for us.”

Silvana returned to Triunfo in 1999 as a senior analyst for Spherilene (the technology used at the plant). Last year, she was promoted to specialized analyst and she runs the department when her boss is away. Now, Silvana’s day-to-day tasks involve testing products in extrusion machines to see how they will perform for clients, cleaning hot molds and, when necessary, carrying heavy loads.

Beatriz Ramos Vieira, 26, is one of the few female factory workers employed at the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex. And she is the only one at Braskem’s unit there. She also has a diploma in Chemistry and has been with the company for five years. Beatriz started out as an intern along with four other co-workers. “There were two women and three men in our group of interns. I was the only one who got hired.” She has no complaints. “The men are very polite and treat me with respect,” she says. Beatriz has made good friends on all the shifts she works. “Some men feel more comfortable talking to me about their families and kids,” she says. Being the only woman at the plant, she is also well known: everyone knows her name.

Beatriz has her own personal rules to ensure that she gets along well with her co-workers. “I dress and behave very modestly,” she says, and jokingly adds, “I know all the latest news about the Brazilian soccer championship.”

Luciana Almeida da Silva, 41, is a chemical engineer specialized in petrochemicals. Her experience is very different. When she joined Braskem she was already used to working with men. She had spent 14 years as a process engineer at the Petroquímica Triunfo company. “Back then, I was the first woman to join the company’s industrial department. It was rough at first because I felt the men’s reproving looks, and it sometimes got to me. I felt that I always had to prove that I belonged there.”

However, Luciana’s attitude has changed. “I feel completely comfortable in my working environment,” says the engineer, who shares an office with five men and interacts with male plant operators on a daily basis. “Now I can deal better with men than with women. They’re less complicated than we are,” she jokes.