Mulheres nos espaços de poder: trajetórias, narrativas e a motivação das mulheres dedicadas a vida pública

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the trajectories, narratives, and motivations of women who engage in public life. The text, on the one hand, highlights the repertoire of techniques used by women who have assumed leadership roles in various configurations of power and social movements. On the other hand, it reveals the difficulties faced by them in the struggle for their rights, both in the civil sphere and in the participation in party politics and spaces of power. To achieve this goal, women who worked in regional or local health councils in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, were selected. The information about the different ways women participates in the councils or in local politics was obtained through in-depth interviews. The first interviews took place in person, however, with the beginning of the pandemic and the social restrictions that were imposed, the procedure had to be changed, so that the conversations started to be carried out by telephone, and recorded with a proprietary application. In most of the women interviewed, despite the distinct profiles and contexts, the predominant discourse revolved around solidarity and the need to make public power be put at the service of the people. According to their narratives, their main objective was to change the reality in which they live, making society, the neighborhood, the city or the state a better place for everyone. The motivations exposed in the interviews were diverse: maternity, family motivations, professional career, self-affirmation, and mainly the search for personal recognition, as well as the recognition of the capacity and dignity of women in the public spheres, but mainly, the care and empathy for others.