“Nós abrimos as porteiras”: divisão sexual do trabalho e luta por reconhecimento sob a perspectiva das questões de gênero numa empresa do sul do Brasil

Abstract

This article addresses the sexual division of labor and the structured and institutionalized gender order in a rural extension company in southern Brazil, through research with the women who work/worked there. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative methodology, using the following research techniques: online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and analysis of audiovisual material. The theoretical-conceptual approach is fundamentally based on studies by Raewyn Connell and her concepts of gender order and gender regime, as well as Silvia Federici, bell hooks, Daniele Kergoat, Helena Hirata, Axel Honneth and Angela Davis. From the analysis of these different data sources, the main analytical categories emerged. They are:female professional disqualification, forms of harassment, taboo on the use of the word “feminism”, denial of the role of victims, forms of mobilization and recognition. These analytical categories highlighted the inequalities inherent to the gender order found in the sexual division of work in the company studied. The changes and permanence found in the gender order are part of the development and agency of the company's workers over time.