Delia María Cruz Escobar is a union leader, mother and wife with four children, forty-nine years old, General Secretary of the first Workers' Union in Civil Construction of the Provinces of Tacna Region (SITROCCPTAC), founded on 08 March 2006. What does it mean to be General Secretary of SITROCCPTAC?
It is a position with a lot of responsibility and tensions because it is necessary to be 24 hours’ work pending on making decisions related to labor participation in building projects and at the same time be aware of the different social cases of the affiliates of the organization.
My main responsibilities are to carry out ordinary and extraordinary meetings and to address different issues such as enforcing the participation of gender quotas without discrimination. We fight every day for equal participation and same rights, but here in Peru, these kind of rights are not always respected. In the city of Tacna the female quota does not exceed 20%.
As a woman, we always suffer discrimination by construction masters, resident engineers and even the same male partners with the pretext that we cannot perform the same work as they do. This is false, since women have a better performance capacity at the workplace and the family. Do you think that those codes that still exist in the construction sector hinder the advancement of women's leadership at the union level?
Yes. This is because men believe that they are the ‘strongest sex’ and because of that reason, they have the mentality to take high positions. I wonder why that happens? Women have been raised with the same kind of considerations, but if we want these contexts to change, women have to fight for having the same rights as men and reach higher positions. What does your union offer to your affiliates as an only women’s union?
As a union, we provide social support to the neediest mothers who are the breadwinners of their homes since they are single mothers. We also provide free medical check-ups with the Ministry of Health and the Social Health Insurance. We also provide courses on Mathematics and Communication Skills for the children of our affiliated mothers.
GREETINGS ON THIS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN´S DAY TO ALL THE WOMEN OF PERU AND WORLDWIDE. WE ARE THE PILLAR OF OUR FAMILIES.
