This article analyzes gender relations and sex-based division of labor in industrial fishing in Iquique, a port in northern Chile, during the second half of the 20th century. Researchers reviewed bibliographic and documentary sources and conducted in-depth interviews with key local players. The results show how women developed an agency that, by applying resistance strategies, put pressure on the workplace domination structures marked by gender hierarchies. The process reflects women’s transition from the private (family) realm to the productive public sphere, which gave rise to a series of transformations in gender role representations in small-scale and industrial fishing.