Pedagogia da maternagem: narrativas das mães do Curso de Pedagogia da UFC no período da gestação e puerpério

Abstract

The present work has the general objective of investigating the main challenges and strategies used by the students to reconcile academic life with the act of mothering. The specific objectives of the proposed research were to understand the difficulties encountered by academics in the gestational and puerperal period; analyze the historical-social scope in which they are inserted and the strategies used; and reflect on possible solutions to this issue. To base this work, the chosen theoretical framework, reflections on the social division of labor from gender issues, and the importance of feminism to destigmatize the role of women; we question the possibility or not of choosing between career and motherhood, or the attempt to reconcile both; And, finally, the normalization of maternal suffering before the society that idealizes them as perfect beings, blaming them when they do not reach such projection. The methodology adopted for the research was a qualitative approach, based on semi-structured interviews with nine academic mothers, in order to collect information about their pregnancy and puerperium with regard to the academic period. In addition to the interviewees, there is also the personal report of the author of the research, seeking to further enrich the narratives experienced. The research focused on undergraduate students in pedagogy who experience or have already experienced pregnancy or the puerperium. After analyzing the data, we point out the following main results: socioeconomic difficulties; physical and emotional difficulties and the inadequacy of policies and educational devices to guarantee the permanence of students. Regarding the strategies and main contributions during their training process, the importance of the presence of a support network was verified; Existence of institutional and pedagogical support and search for motivation to persist. According to the interviewees, there are several battles to be faced when deciding to continue graduation after pregnancy and/or puerperium. A lot is thought about giving up, however, with the strategies used, they follow the course of their graduation, looking in their children for the real reason for not giving up.