¿Dónde estaban las mujeres? El rescate de la memoria y la lucha sindical en la historia de UTE

We spoke with Stefani Araújo, a leading figure in the Gender and Equity Commission of AUTE (the Uruguayan Electrical Workers Union), about the launch of the book "Notes for a History of the Women of the National Administration of Power Plants and Electrical Transmissions (UTE) and Their Struggles." This valuable research project, carried out by historians Tania Rodríguez and Jazmina Suárez, arose from an uncomfortable question in 2023: why did only men's names appear in the union's historical records when women had always been there? Through meticulous, painstaking work—digitizing old bulletins, conducting interviews, and joining forces with the Feminist Space of the Pioneers—they managed to rescue from oblivion the names, personnel charts, photographs, and experiences of women electrical workers in 20th-century Uruguay. 00:00 - The origin of the project: A striking absence of women in the archives 02:01 - The foundational impetus for the research and the role of Tere Bonilla 02:30 - Painstaking work: The "Vox" Bulletin and the beginning of the documentary tracing 03:29 - The arrival of historians Tania Rodríguez and Jazmina Suárez 04:10 - The beginnings of UTE in 1912 and the first female workers of the 20th century 04:49 - The first booklet of biographies and the moving tribute at AUTE 05:35 - Inauguration of the Hall of Memory at the union 06:28 - Alliance with the Pioneers' Space in Arroyo Seco 07:09 - Hard data: Graphs, payrolls, and photographic material from the book 08:20 - Gender bias in labor history and the case of the needleworkers' union 09:20 - The reflection of the Reality: The Pyramid of Women in Decision-Making Positions 10:43 - Official Invitation: Book Launch in Physical and Digital Formats (Creative Commons) 13:32 - Second Invitation: Rosa Luxemburg School of Political Training 14:32 - Details of the Panelists for Friday's Panel on Internationalism 15:14 - Call to Neighborhood Residents and Closing of the Report