“Estamos aqui para contar essa história”: os atravessamentos entre maternidade e docência durante o isolamento social da COVID-19

Abstract

For a long time, motherhood and teaching were the only forms of female fulfillment. The struggles and demands waged by feminist movements resulted in significant progress with regard to the inclusion of women in various professional positions, as well as the obligation to exercise motherhood. However, they still face challenges in reconciling these two roles. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate how teaching and motherhood were crossed during the social isolation of COVID-19. Thus, this scenario may have led to confluences in the lives of these women due to changes in family, educational and social dynamics. To this end, a case study was conducted with teachers who are also mothers from the Department of Education at the Federal University of Sergipe, with interviews carried out in order to explore the experiences of these participants. The data collected was analyzed from the perspective of gender relations in Cultural Studies and feminist theories. The results showed how these women's maternal and teaching identities, constructed and experienced in a sexist and capitalist society, intertwine and shape their approaches and experiences before and during this period. Remote teaching, an emergency consequence of this pandemic period, presented additional challenges for these women, affecting their mental health and physical well-being due to the overload of multiple demands that were considerably expanded, shedding light on the need for institutional recognition in order to make the university more equitable and ensure the particular needs of teacher-mothers.