Abstract

The article aims to understand the relation between gender tensions due to the countercultural situation of women in senior positions in Chilean mining industry, and the strategies and capacities to face them, seen as agency. By using a qualitative methodology, we analyze 13 life stories and conclude that, even in contexts of gender inequality, upward social mobility trajectories question the traditional order. The main tensions are related to family roles, power and recognition, cultural representations of the environment and redefinition of identities. The pre-eminently individual strategies refer to more egalitarian conjugal arrangements; continuity in education; identity based on action, success and achievements; and, a combination of strong character and self-confidence together with loving care, rejecting masculinized leaderships.