As ocupações de mulheres velhas nos cotidianos de vulnerabilidade social

Abstract

Population aging is a topic widely discussed today, given the increase in life expectancy and the impacts of aging, especially in the less favoured social classes. This is the case of women, especially black women, who grow old in a context of social class with lower purchasing power, lacking public policies and different initiatives aimed at their demands. This Case Study aims to understand the perception of older women about the occupations in their daily lives in a socially vulnerable community (Vila Marçola - Aglomerado da Serra/Belo Horizonte/MG). The participants are 11 women who met the inclusion criteria of being a woman, aged 60 or over, and living in Vila Marçola; and as an exclusion criterion, having manifestations, self-declared or declared by family members, of cognitive deficits or any other process that implied inability to respond to the interview. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection and the results were analyzed by content analysis in the form of thematic analysis. The results pointed to the centrality of care in the daily lives of the participants, being presented in the following categories: (1) domestic care; (2) care for people and the community; (3) self-care; (4) emancipatory occupations. Gender, social class and race pervade the life trajectory of these women, especially in the imposition of domestic work in their own homes and in a paid manner. Retirement and participation in school and in different social coexistence projects open up possibilities for making occupational choices based on the desire to experience what they never had the opportunity to access and/or to resume interrupted occupations. It is concluded that several occupations carried out throughout life were imposed in a violent, veiled and naturalized manner. In these coexistence projects, the social practices experienced by these women in old age inscribe the opportunity of choice, reaffirm and strengthen the existence of disruptive and emancipatory movements led by them.