“Meninas não gostam de carros, meninos não prestam atenção”: identidades de gênero no contexto escolar

Abstract

This study is linked to the Postgraduate Program in Public Policies and Educational Management of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) and the research line LP2- Pedagogical Management and Educational Contexts. It has as its theme the gender identities in the school context, a research carried out in the Early Years of elementary school. Gender is understood as a social construction, based on biological differences, which distinguishes and assigns meaning to what is meant by being male and female. From these distinctions are assigned to individuals roles, behaviors, clothing, and in childhood, the direction of play and toys judged suitable for boys and girls. The study aims to understand how gender identities are evidenced in situations of play and interaction of children and in the actions of teachers in the school context. The methodology is based on a qualitative research, with principles of ethnographic research, using participant observation and records in field diary as data production technique. Discussing the topic of gender identities in the educational context is pertinent to understand how this issue is addressed in teaching practice, by school management and how they are emphasized in public policies. For the theoretical basis, authors such as Louro (1996, 2000), Scott (1994, 1995), Angrosino (2009) and Lück (2001, 2009) were used. As a result, it was observed that the teachers need space for reflection and discussion of the subject, because, often, their conducts are based on common sense. From the observations it was possible to perceive that the children in their games, at times, reproduce what was learned socially, and in others, transgress, leading different ways of being a boy or a girl, different from what was stipulated socially for the female sex and the male sex, (re) inventing, thus, other roles.