Políticas de cuidado infantil e a perspectiva da reprodução social: um olhar feminista sobre a política de educação infantil do município de Belo Horizonte/MG

Abstract

The aim of this work was to analyse the design of the Early-Childhood Policy in Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais (Brazil), from the social reproduction feminism as a lens and intersectionality as a methodological tool. Initially, it is highlighted some concepts from Marx and Engels that originate the perspective of social reproduction, as well as contributions from other feminist keys, such as Black and Latin American feminisms, in attention to the Brazilian scars of colonialism and slavery. To this end, this research starts from the understanding that women are fundamental to the process of maintaining and replacing the past, present and future labour power, which is owned and used by the working class to produce value and is essential for the continuity of the capitalist society. Precisely, this work turns to one of the manifestations of the reproductive activities, namely, the care for small children, which is linked to a historically and socially imposed role on women in relation to the exercise of care and motherhood. The apprehension of these concrete and historically constructed social relations helps in the search for the foundations of women's oppression, keeping the particularities of each one of them in mind, and is necessary to assimilate how child care, within and outside the family environment, paid or not, presents a conformation that reiterates the notion that women and, disproportionately, black women and women from lower economic classes, are individually responsible for the reproductive functions of society. Based on this understanding, this work sought to open a dialogue between Brazilian Law, public care and education policies and the theory of social reproduction, while considering the different realities of care influenced not only by gender, but also by ethnicity, race and class, to, then, defend the need to socialize reproductive tasks as a way to reduce the exhausting working hours to which women are subjected. Taking all this into consideration and understanding public policies as a path towards the socialization of care that potentially allows the realization of social rights, a greater participation in the public life and an improvement of living condition to all within the family, including children, this research analysed the content and the logic of the legal structure of the Belo Horizonte’s Early-Childhood Education Policy, a national reference, through a Marxist feminist and intersectional perspective that proposes to look at that policy not just by its potential to satisfy children's demands, but also to meet demands related to gender, race, social equality and care.