Published

2012-07-01

LAS MADRES TRABAJADORAS Y LA POLIFONÍA DE SU SELF

Working mothers and their multivoiced self

Keywords:

motherhood, child care, female work, working mothers, self, maternidad, cuidados infantiles, trabajo femenino, madres trabajadoras, maternidade, cuidados infantis, trabalho feminine, mães trabalhadoras (es)
Self, working mothers, female labor, motherhood, subjectivity (en)

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Authors

  • Leila Sanches de Almeida Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Since the 1960's, work has been a goal for Brazilian middle class women. In contrast, mothers of lower-income groups have always needed to work. This qualitative study investigated the meaning of motherhood, child care and work among 28 working mothers of different social classes. In order to do so, interviews and focus groups were conducted. Results show that women attribute exclusively to mothers the child care function. In addition, being a working woman has different meanings for each of those two social classes. There are voices in the self that represent the positions of mother and worker. They act on the meaning systems and they can lead to contradictory attitudes in a similar context.


Especially since the 1960’s, female labor has been highly estimated by Brazilian middle class women. However, former values and functions are still attributed to them. But how do these women deal with these multiple and contradictory identities? It is well known that the working mothers of lower classes have always been able to work and take care of their children. Thus, the present study, which is based on the network of meanings, investigated the senses of motherhood, child care and labor for four middle class working mothers and for four groups of working mothers of lower classes. It was carried out interviews and focus groups. It was observed that, in general, women attribute to mothers only the function of taking care of the children. The women don’t seem to integrate in one single identity the roles of mother and worker. It was also observed that being a working woman has different senses in those two social classes.

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