Today, 8 March, is a special day because we are recognising the work and struggle of women in all fields. At Astigarraga Kit Line, talent is gender neutral. Here, women and men create, lead and build together, from the workshops through the offices to the management.

So today, International Women’s Day, is the perfect day to recognise the work that Angelines Orozco has done in our company for 39 years. One of those women who has dedicated her career to traditionally male-dominated sectors. Recently retired, and an example of commitment and professionalism, her attitude and companionship will continue to be present in every corner of Astigarraga kit Line.

Nearly four decades of easel manufacturing

Angelines started working for the company when she was only 19 years old and retired in September 2024. Little did she know at the time that her working life would be linked to wooden trestles for almost four decades. “When I joined at the age of 19, I never imagined that I would be here for the rest of my life. At that age you live in the present and don’t think about the future”, Angelines explains. From day one, her work was centred on making trestles, except for a brief period of one year when she made boards.

Such was the case. For almost 40 years, her day-to-day life was spent between head-stocks and cross-members. If there were a Guinness World Record for the number of easels made, Angelines would undoubtedly be a strong candidate for the woman who has made the most easels in the world. A few thousand have passed through her hands, so many that she could put them together with her eyes closed. And every easel that has left the workshop, bound for half of Europe, has carried a piece of her dedication.

A male-dominated sector

When Angelines started in the company, the only women were herself and Itziar Astigarraga, co-founder of the company. In a largely male environment, her presence was an exception and a testimony to perseverance. “There were no women making easels then. I was the first. In timber companies in the region, yes, but not in this. Maybe a girl would start working here, but after a while she’d leave”, she recalls.

“They say this work is hard. But for me it hasn’t been. Because it was manual, it was fun for me”, she says. Angelines never felt that she was at a disadvantage or that her status as a woman was an obstacle in the workshop. “When I started, it was a man’s world. But they never made me feel any different. I worked just like them. I have done the same as my colleagues. No more, no less. And they have cared for me and treated me the same way they treated each other. The atmosphere has always been one of companionship”, she remarks. For Angelines, this positive working environment has been key to her well-being during almost 40 years of work.

What her work was like

The entire trestle manufacturing process is now mechanised. But Angelines remembers those years when every step was done by hand: assembling the pieces with glue and mounting them in the vice, placing the hinges and the brace with hammer blows and strapping the pallets before loading them all by hand onto the lorries. It was physical work, but for her, “entertaining”.

Angelines also stood out because of her speed and precision. “She was very fast at sewing, that’s what they said”. However, her biggest challenge was the modernisation of the process. “I wasn’t used to working with machines, I liked manual work”, she recalls. Adapting was a challenge, but she managed to do so without losing the essence of her work.

An egalitarian workshop

Today, the workshop is a reflection of change, not only because easels are no longer made by hand, but also because equality is a reality: “Now in the workshop there are 50% women and 50% men. Over the last 10 years, many women have joined us. “Men and women are treated equally here. The work, the tasks and the pay are the same. There is no distinction between genders”, she adds. The evolution has been remarkable, and Angelines is proud to have witnessed this progress within the company.

For her, her greatest contribution has been to contribute to a positive working environment. “I have been very lucky with my colleagues, both with those I started with in the 1980s and with the new ones. There has always been harmony. And perhaps it is not just a question of luck, because Angelines, with her character and her way of being, has had a lot to do with it.

A message to women on their day

On this 8th March, many women are still fighting for recognition in their professions. Angelines feels privileged not to have encountered prejudice or negative comments because she is a woman in an industrial environment. What would Angelines say to those who have had to face obstacles? “Let them go ahead, don’t let anyone tell them what they can or cannot do. I started in a workshop surrounded by men and I never felt I had to prove myself more than them. The important thing is to do the job well and enjoy it”. “We have to fight for equality every day, not just on 8 March, so that we all have the same rights and the same opportunities”, she continues.

After so many years surrounded by easels, Angelines takes no credit for herself, she likes to go unnoticed, without making too much noise. “I don’t like flattery, I have done my job well because it was my responsibility”. But her story has value, the same as that of all those women who have made their way into sectors where it was not common to see them before.

On this International Women’s Day, her career reminds us that a job well done is gender neutral and that the real mark left behind is not always measured in recognition, but in the impact it leaves on others. Each easel Angelines made is not just a precisely assembled piece of wood, but a reflection of her dedication, of her hands moulding effort into something tangible. Have a happy retirement, Angelines! Happy International Women’s Day!