“Mulheres periféricas” e o neoliberalismo; percepção da desigualdade de gênero no município de São Carlos”

Abstract

In the Brazilian scenario, the advance of neoliberalism – arising from the crisis of production and social reproduction, which began in 2008 – has profound impacts on groups that are already subordinated, in this case, young university and peripheral women. This research sought to understand how young university women living on the outskirts of the city of São Carlos in the Santa Felícia neighborhoods; CDHU/Vila Faria and Cidade Aracy experience and signify gender inequality in this context, in which way lived experiences transform and/or reproduce perceptions about gender inequality. The general objective is supported by the hypothesis that there is a contradiction established and widened by the crisis: on the one hand the reinforcement of the traditional role of women and consequently gentrified stereotypes, on the other, the fissures in the social order caused by the advancement of the feminist struggle. Our specific objectives were to) study the effects of neoliberalism on gender relations; ii) understand the experiences of peripheral women in relation to gender based on their life stories; iii) understand what their experiences mean and which episodes are notable for the subjects; iv) understand the dialogue between gender perception and national political context, analyzing the SARS-COV-2 pandemic. We opted for a qualitative approach using life history as a data collection technique, due to its ability to capture in-depth perceptions and meanings. Due to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, the field was blocked and the interview sessions took place virtually, being organized by thematic axes (trajectory and life experience; work, study and professional life; perceptions about politics and gender; perception about the specificities of the neighborhood in which you live; relationship with the pandemic). Within the results obtained, we highlight: i) the intense precariousness of services essential to life that occurs in the scenario of economic crisis and neoliberal advance and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the financial pressure to self-sustain and/or support the family caused intense mental illness; ii) the experience of young university women living on the outskirts is tensioned between access to feminist debates and sometimes political organization and the absence, at the moment, of women's organizations in the peripheral neighborhoods of the city; iii) generational conflicts occur between young and older women within families about how gender inequality is perceived, whether in the private or social sphere; iv) the logic of the “self-entrepreneur” is immersed in the experience of these women, in the sense of a logic of survival in the face of the economic crisis and neoliberal advance.