As trabalhadoras do Instituto Agronômico do Norte – Plantações Ford de Belterra (1949)

Abstract

This paper presents the profile of the female workers at the Instituto Agronômico de Norte – Plantações Ford de Belterra in 1949, as well as the work they carried out. The information for this analysis was taken from accident reports from 1949, produced by the Instituto Agronômico de Norte, then responsible for managing the Plantações Ford de Belterra after Henry Ford transferred the enterprise to the Brazilian government. To construct the contextual narrative, we used a literature review, considering the development of the Ford Company project in Belterra, the labor relationship between the company and its contractors, the project's management after its transfer to the Brazilian government, and sought information on the work of women who worked on rubber plantations in the Amazon during the period in which our subjects are analyzed. We found that little literature has dedicated itself to researching the daily lives of these workers, with the emphasis still being placed on male labor in this space. At the end of the research, we considered that the work of these women was of utmost importance to the development of the project in Belterra, as they were involved in different functions that were essential to achieving the objectives in that place.