“... Não tem jeito de eu acordar hoje e dizer: hoje eu não vou ser mãe!": trabalho, maternidade e redes de apoio

Abstract

O objetivo deste artigo consistiu em analisar, comparativamente, o processo administrativo da interface família-trabalho remunerado para mães jovens e tardias. A amostra foi composta por docentes e funcionárias ativas da Universidade Federal de Viçosa que foram mães entre os anos de 2000 e 2007, com um recorte etário antes dos 25 e depois dos 35 anos de idade. A coleta se deu por meio de uma entrevista fundamentada em um roteiro semi-estruturado. Os resultados apontaram a falta de planejamento familiar pelas mulheres que vivenciaram a maternidade na juventude, havendo a necessidade de contarem com as redes informais para administrarem os diferentes domínios de sua vida. Ao contrário, as mães tardias, ao planejarem a gravidez para um momento em que gozavam de estabilidade profissional, financeira e, até mesmo, conjugal, fizeram maior uso das redes formais de apoio. Constatou-se que a administração da interface – família trabalho remunerado acontece de maneira diferente, sendo facilitada ou não pelas características pessoais, familiares e profissionais vivenciadas.

Palavra chave: Maternidade tardia, Trabalho remunerado, Redes de apoio social.

ABSTRACT

“… THERE IS NOT A WAY TO WAKE UP TODAY AND SAY: TODAY I’M NOT GOING TO BE A MOTHER”: WORK, MATERNITY AND SOCIAL NETWORK

The building a professional career at the same time as pursuing motherhood and other expectations of the woman comes a conflicting relationship of roles. With this perspective, this work was developed, with the goal to characterize the differences, difficulties and possibilities in managing a paid work-family interface, for young and late mothers. Methodologically, to make the comparative study possible, the sample was divided into two groups: women who experienced motherhood at 25 years of age or less, and those who experienced motherhood after 35 years of age. The collection was made by applying a questionnaire followed by an interview. The results showed that most women who experienced maternity in youth did not plan the pregnancy, which occurred at a time when they didn’t have emotional and financial stability, which led to the need of family support. In contrast, for late mothers the pregnancy was planned for a moment when they enjoyed professional and financial stablity and even marriage, and were able to act more independently of informal support networks, once they had resources to hire services such as maids, nannies and day care. We can conclude that the management interface - family paid work takes place differently in the face of life projects, conditioned to experience motherhood, purchasing power and the access to social networks, although with limited leisure and personal time.

Keywords: Late Motherhood. Paid work. Social support networks.