História de vida de uma trabalhadora do cuidado

Abstract

The activities and responsibilities from care work received invisibility layers through a long socio-historical process, which made it less understood as work and more understood as a family obligation, mainly attributed to women. This research was guided by the question: how is the life of a care worker woman? The main objective of this research was to present Marciele’s life story, a woman who worked for fifteen years as a nanny, caregiver and cleaner, showing how she interpreted her own reality and situations in her life; and at the same time, investigate and comprehend conditions and forms of care work through the experiences reported. The research was in an exploratory field with a qualitative approach. In addition, it was grounded in a the theoretical-methodological proposal of oral history combining two genres: life history and thematic oral history. The studies from Helena Hirata were the main theoretical reference; the author defines care work as a technical, material, and emotional work, shaped by a social relationship, and that contributes for the promotion of well-being. In-depth interviews with Marciele were realized using a semi-structured script of questions, and her reports were transcribed with the aim of preserving orality as a spontaneous manifestation, strengthening Marciele as an active individual and, also preserving her as a narrator. Furthermore, her reports were also a start point for descriptive analyses and comprehensive interpretative analyses, trying to show what made sense and how it made sense. To turn care work visible is essential to show its importance for the sustainability of people’s lives. In that way, this dissertation sought to contribute to its visibility: first, more broadly, by instigating debate and contextualizing the theme; and second, more specifically, by focusing on Marciele’s life through interviews and analyses that were carried out. Marciele has faced many difficulties so far; she had a life scarred by long working hours, informal scenarios of work, driven by the need to survive and the desire to achieve her goals and objectives