The aim of this article is to analyze two realities of work, marked by flexibility and precariousness and with an intensive workforce of women in the northeastern region of Brazil. The first involves women seamstresses in household factions of the Confections Pole of the Agreste of Pernambuco State. In the second, we have the female protagonism within the textile production in the municipality of Jardim de Piranhas-RN.The sexual division of labor is central to both experiences, either by reinforcing the classic places that men and women occupy in production and reproduction, or by presenting new issues.Visits and interviews were carried out in the two productive contexts, which allowed contact with the labor experiences of women. In the first case, home work means the search for autonomy and freedom, where we also have the entry of men in sewing. In the second, women become owners of looms and the presence of men is still small. However, these factors did not have a positive impact on gender inequalities, since domestic chores remain unchanged and even with long working hours, women workers do not perceive themselves as people generated in an oppressive and dominant society and in unequal conditions at work.
Textile and clothing industry; Female work; Gender inequalities; Informality; Precarious work