Tecendo vivências das mulheres no trabalho da cata de materiais recicláveis em Cícero Dantas/Bahia

Abstract

A society steeped in technological trends, time scarcity and consumerism as a way of life, sustains a global socio-environmental crisis with crucial precedents for human life on Earth. Inefficient policies, increased inequality, environmental catastrophes, the excess of waste produced on the planet and the proliferation of greenhouse gases by industries mainly affect the most vulnerable society. This reality often leads children, the elderly and women to be supplanted in degrading work and life situations. Among the various concerns, the woman who collects recyclable materials was put forward as the object of study on this research. The daily life of these women who carry out the work of collectors, imbued with precariousness, unhealthiness, physical and psychological risks, and still perform the role of mother, wife, daughter, grandmother and often the role of family provider. Thus, through this experience, this study raised the following question: how does the work relationship of recyclable material collectors occur in the municipality of Cícero Dantas/BA? And as a general objective, to analyze the work relationship of women through the experience of recyclable material collectors in the aforementioned municipality. To achieve the proposed objective, the methodological approach of the research was presented as empirical, through integration, exchange of knowledge and listening during on-site visits and was constituted as qualitative-quantitative with an exploratory-descriptive focus. Bibliographic readings and data collection were carried out, which were configured from three stages: a) participant observation; b) field diary with photographic records; and c) semi-structured interview. The data were analyzed through discourse analysis in which the speech of the collectors is inferred, those who are silenced and oppressed by power, the analysis and the political meaning of the discourse. This works as a warning, to public managers and the community, of the existence of collectors in a scenario of exploitation and social oblivion. The analysis of the reality of women recyclable material collectors was justified by the fact that it deals with a social condition that is both unknown to many and invisible within patriarchal capitalism. A counter-hegemonic approach that encompasses a world of contradictions, from the work environment, the lack of waste management, and programs to encourage and value these women. Therefore, the research brought within an incipient view of socio-environmental circumstances the lack of social justice, environmental degradation, and difficulties experienced by women. In addition to the dissertation, there was the elaboration of the pedagogical product that materialized in a memoir. Stories told by women recyclable material collectors and transcribed under the concept of writing, a term created by the writer Conceição Evaristo. A book that granted these women the leading role as participants in this subjective/scientific journey.