- The following stories from Peru are extracts from the booklet 'Women in the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry."
KARLA MAGDALENA ARGUEDAS SANCHEZ
Since I was small, I have loved repairing things at home: the electric stove, the iron, radios, and so on. When I was asked what I wanted to be when I was older, I would say I wanted to be an electrical engineer. I was sure God gave me a gift, as I was able to repair things without having studied how to do this.
My mother did not understand this and would always reprimand me because I loved doing “men’s stuff.” She insisted that I should focus on work for women, and so she enrolled me in sewing and teaching courses, which I ended up dropping because of a lack of motivation.
I relentlessly persevered with my mother, and with my father’s help, I was able to enroll at an institute in Cañete Province, where we lived, and I signed up to study technical electronics. At the time, my father worked as a farmer, but as a result of the El Niño phenomenon, he incurred heavy losses and was forced to find a job in the city of Lima to be able to support us.
Things changed while my father was in Lima. For the first few months, he needed a lot of money to get settled and the little he sent us was only enough for my siblings’ schooling, food, and household expenses. My mother had to find a way to pay for the transport fare for my older sister and me. That is why my mother sent me to join my father as soon as his situation in Lima improved. Moving to Lima was a great opportunity. My father asked me to choose to study at either an institute or a university. I did a lot of research on electronics degrees and chose the National Service for Industrial Labour Training (SENATI). I enrolled in the refrigeration and air conditioning course because I was told much about its electronics module. The more I studied the modules, the more I liked everything I studied – electricity, welding, machining processes. When it was time to take the famous electronics module, it turned out to be only a basic module which lasted 15 days. However, I was not disappointed because I was about to finish my degree and I was delighted with everything I had studied.
"Over time, I have learned and gained experience, and today I can say that there is nothing impossible for us women. When you love what you do and you work hard for it, everything is possible"
Studying for the degree was not easy, and I did not mind my classmates’ behaviour towards me, but I would wonder, “why do they do that.” They would hide my work, take my food, hide my backpack, or when I would start welding, they’d throw a rag soaked with thinner at me. There was one classmate with whom I always had problems, and so one day, my cousin, tired of the stories I would tell him, went to SENATI and waited for this person at dismissal time to give him a firm warning. This made things worse for me. This person was the head of the group, and soon afterward, nobody was talking to me anymore. My friends were guys from another specialty.
But as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever. I joined a football competition at SENATI, and one day, my team came looking for me when I was in class, about to take a quiz. The teacher allowed me to leave to play football, but the other students started complaining. The teacher closed the door and asked if everyone wanted to take the quiz; obviously, they all shouted “no”. So he said: “This is what we’ll do. If Karla scores a goal, everyone is exempted from the quiz. If not, everyone gets a failing score at the end of the game.” I remember that it was then that, for the first time, I was treated nicely by my classmates and that everyone cheered for me throughout the entire game. We were all given a passing grade for the test because that day I scored three goals.
Since then, I have gotten along well with every one of my classmates, but I still thank them for how they treated me in the beginning because this prepared me for what life later had in store for me. When I left SENATI, I encountered many obstacles in my career, but I always held on to my beliefs.
Over the years, I’ve always applied what I learned during my time in school to help me in my professional career: universal welding (course completed), electrical studies (course completed), and specialty refresher courses at universities.
In my work as a technician, my supervisors always doubted me at first. I remember one company, where I was hired with five other technicians and the male technicians were paid more than me. I told myself that even if they did not value me, I was there to learn and get experience, which is more valuable than money. After some time, I became the team leader, and those who had started with me were now under my supervision. Obviously, I was given a raise because I had more responsibilities. I stayed at this company for five years, and it was there that I also met the man who became my husband and the father of my daughter. Unfortunately, I was forced to resign, as I had a risky pregnancy.
After I gave birth, my bosses asked me to return, but my husband and I decided to start our own business. Starting the business was not at all easy. When he left for work and I had to travel, it was my mother who stayed with my daughter. The first time I had to travel, my baby was only 15 days old, and I still remember the pain and guilt I felt for leaving her. It was a time of great sacrifice, but I always thought the sacrifice was worth making in order to have something in life and to ensure that in the future my daughter can be proud of her mother.
In business, as in life, there are ups and downs, but I have always made it a point to have a positive outlook. My husband and I eventually divorced, and now, my company has been in business for about nine years. I’ve inspired my brothers, who now are also in the refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) profession. They used to work as technicians in automotive mechanics. We are now all working together in the family company. Over time, I have learned and gained experience, and today I can say that there is nothing impossible for us women. When you love what you do and you work hard for it, everything is possible.
MARLENE ESTEFA HUAMAN HUANACO
When I was a little girl, I remember my father painting refrigerators for 
work, and as an innocent four-year-old, I would help him sand the fridge surfaces with my little hands. This is how I got started in the world of refrigeration. I grew up surrounded by refrigerators, compressors, tubing, refrigerants, and the like. In the summertime, which was the high season for our repair shop, we had lots of equipment that needed repairs or maintenance work; as the eldest sister, I helped with purchasing spare parts, sorting out the budget and invoices, or taking calls from clients. We all helped at the repair shop – my younger brothers and nephews, as well as my mother.
At the repair shop, I knew all the tools, and there were even occasions where I had to refill some units with refrigerants myself, while they were being tested. There were also times when I had to do in-home repairs of some equipment. Some clients doubted whether I was able to do repairs, while others were surprised to see me use my tools, but I was just doing my job. There were times when I would check a system and the compressor didn’t have labels or electric circuits because another technician had removed them. I therefore had to find out on my own, by contacting the suppliers, exactly which spare part was needed, and I had to get the original parts, such as controls, sensors, and other parts.
After finishing my secondary studies, I applied to university, but unfortunately, I was not accepted. Discouraged, I applied to the National Service for Industrial Labour Training (SENATI), and when I received my admission documents, I was surprised to learn that there was no other female student in the programme – everyone was male. I was the only girl in my group, and despite thinking that I would have problems or issues with the other students, I was mistaken. I found a great group of friends, and in my two years of studying at SENATI I learned a lot about air conditioning and industrial refrigeration equipment under the guidance of my teachers. Of course, I was already more familiar with the tools, but I never told my classmates.
My boss would always tell me: “When you come to do maintenance work on a unit, everything around you should be as you found it once your service work is done."
It was not easy to get into the company where I did my apprentice training. They tested me for several weeks, but I showed them, through my work, that I could handle it. During my time at the International Potato Center, I met good colleagues and had excellent bosses. I learned a lot from them. We did everything from repairs to preventive maintenance to the adjustment of refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC) equipment. We had all kinds of tools; we even had a refrigerant recovery unit. This was in 2005, and we were still using R-141 to clean the circuits. We also performed washing and then flushing with nitrogen, and even with the same refrigerant from the unit – R-22; we’d request a spare part and they’d bring it to us. The units cannot stop functioning. When our intervention was completed, my boss would always tell me: “When you come to do maintenance work on a unit, everything around you should be as you found it once your service work is done. If there is something requiring improvement, communicate it, then do the necessary work. Never leave things half done.”
Later on, I decided to work as a freelance technician and to return to our family repair shop. Through the years, our list of clients has grown to include minimarkets, restaurants, cafés, ice-cream shops, and other businesses that call upon us for the RAC services we offer. My younger brother has become my right-hand man, I also work with my sisters, and my father, with all his experience, is still at the head of the company. Currently, I go out to check on RAC units, loading my backpacks with the necessary tools, showing that we continue to learn more each day with honesty and respect – because there is no such thing as big or small customers, we must treat all customers equally.
IRIS MILAGROS VEGAS VALVERDE
My story began in the 1980s, when I started studying industrial refrigeration at the National Service for Industrial Labour Training (SENATI) in the city of Chiclayo, Peru. There were 12 of us (10 men, two women), and it was a struggle to be accepted in the group, which we eventually succeeded in doing.
Over time, I began considering the course as precision mechanics, and each day, I continued falling in love with what I was studying because it dealt with subjects from the simplest to the most complex. I always referred to it as my “magic thingy."
Years went by, and I completed the course and started working in shops repairing refrigerators and cold chambers; with time, I continued to acquire experience in refrigeration.
I then began working in sales and technical consultancies for a leading refrigeration company in Lima. Over time, I fell in love and had a child, who has become my reason to live. However, the company did not accept people with children because it seemed to the people in charge that they are not as productive as those without children, and therefore not as profitable.
Leaving the company to have my child was very painful because I felt I brought much to my team at work. However, instead of lamenting my fate, I let this push me to go forward and to never give up.
“Leaving the company to have my child was very painful because I felt I brought much to my team at work. However, instead of lamenting my fate, I let this push me to go forward and to never give up.”
I’ve gone through many experiences, including having a partner opposed to my work because he saw that I worked with so many men. However, this did not stop me and, on the contrary, I pushed on and grew professionally.
I then worked for an NGO, where I taught young people with low-income backgrounds, especially women. We trained many young people in refrigeration, and a great number of them continue to work in the sector up to this day.
I kept working with this “magic thingy,” and my expertise helped me start my own small family business. My son, who has been immersed in this environment since he was small, is now part of this venture.
In the world of refrigeration, you make many friends and many of them are men. Today I am the vice-president of the Peruvian Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, and Ventilation Association, where we organize capacity building for technicians and people working in the refrigeration sector, and I personally address women to empower them in the air conditioning environment.
Thanks to my profession, I have managed to keep a spot in this market and help colleagues through technical consultation and training.
