WOMEN, WORK AND MOTHERHOOD: A CONTEMPORARY VIEW

Authors

  • VERA MARIA DAHER MALUF
  • EDNA MARIA SEVERINO PETERS KAHHALE

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12957/polemica.2010.2803

Abstract

The study examined the relationships of women executives with high professional achievement, who are also mothers. It is qualitative-quantitative research conducted via the Internet with 45 women executives from various service companies. For data collection we used the following instruments: Social Perception Questionnaire, which consists of five parts that measure Gender Differences, Motherhood, Occupation, Emotional Relationships; Contemporary View, Brazilian Version of the Quality of Life Questionaire - SF 36 and Sociodemographic Questionnaire. The results showed that, for the women surveyed, it is in part in a time of construction of a new vision, and in part in a time of conflict. The study's finding that the women surveyed manage the quality of life by providing opportunities contradicts much of the previous literature. Until now, it was believed that the quality of life for such women, who work 10 to 14 hours a day, is greatly compromised. The study does not support this conclusion. The fact that these women are in positions of extreme complexity is not seen as burdensome, but instead stimulating. Despite the belief that motherhood is the paramount value to women, the women surveyed do not behave and / or made choices guided primarily by motherhood. They stated that in order to have children, financial conditions are necessary and also a companion who wants children. They also reported that the quest for professional achievement helped to foster more egalitarian relationships promoting personal and professional satisfaction. In conclusion, living in a historic moment, full of complexity and contradiction, the women surveyed are torn between the desire to assert themselves as actors who construct history with men, and the desire for motherhood and their role in monitoring the development of children. The place of these women in history remains both professional, economic, political, social, and intensely personal as well with respect to their role as mothers.

Keywords: woman; work; motherhood; gender; mother

Author Biographies

VERA MARIA DAHER MALUF

Doutora em Psicologia Clínica pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. Psicóloga clínica. Consultora em Cultura Organizacional sobre os temas ligados à mulher e ao feminino. Autora do livro Fertilidade & Maternidade. O desejo de um filho, São Paulo, Editora Atheneu, 2007.

EDNA MARIA SEVERINO PETERS KAHHALE

Psicóloga formada pela PUCSP. Doutora em Psicologia Experimental pelo Instituto de Psicologia da USP. Professora do Depto de Métodos e Técnicas em Psicologia da Faculdade de Psicologia da PUCSP. Professora e pesquisadora do Núcleo de Psicossomática e Psicologia Hospitalar do Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Psicologia Clínica da PUCSP. Ministra aulas e pesquisa (integrada com assistência na rede pública) na área de Psicologia da Saúde, especificamente saúde da mulher, sexualidade e relações de gênero sob a perspectiva da Psicologia Sócio-Histórica. Autora e organizadora do livro A diversidade da Psicologia: uma construção teórica, Ed. Cortez, 2002. Tutora do grupo PET/Psicologia SESu/PUCSP de 1995 a 2001. Nos últimos seis anos tem desenvolvido  pesquisa aliada à assistência em HIV/Aids e Hepatites, enfocando relações de gênero e adesão ao tratamento, numa parceria PUCSP e UNIFESP, especificamente o Departamento de Doenças Infecto Contagiosas, no ambulatório (CEDIPA).

Published

2012-03-27

How to Cite

MALUF, V. M. D., & KAHHALE, E. M. S. P. (2012). WOMEN, WORK AND MOTHERHOOD: A CONTEMPORARY VIEW. POLÊM!CA, 9(3), 170 a 180. https://doi.org/10.12957/polemica.2010.2803

Issue

Section

QUESTÕES CONTEMPORÂNEAS