Trabalho e políticas públicas para as mulheres amazônidas: um estudo acerca da Comunidade São Benedito do município de Boa Vista do Ramos- AM

Abstract

The article addresses working conditions and their intersections with access to public policies for the women of the São Benedito community in the municipality of Boa Vista do Ramos/AM. The research aims to analyze the working conditions of the women involved in the study and examine the impact of the lack of public policies on their labor and community activities. Throughout the research, we highlight the importance of women's work in the community and the contradictory invisibility of their labor in rural areas for family and community subsistence. This invisibility worsens working conditions and, at the same time, prevents the planning and implementation of public policies that meet the real needs of these workers. Regarding the methodological resources of the research, we used both qualitative and quantitative research to provide a broader foundation for the results. We collected secondary data through a bibliographic survey of the literature on the topic, using books, dissertations, articles, and magazines that discuss analytical categories related to women's work in the Amazonian context, the sexual division of labor, and gender public policies focusing on regional demands. We also gathered primary data through semi-structured interviews with ten women from the São Benedito community, aged between 34 and 65, who are rural workers. We applied questionnaires with open and closed questions that were easy to understand, aiming to achieve the purpose of this work. In this context, the results of this study highlight a situation of widespread precariousness and invisibility of women's work, which has extremely negative impacts due to the absence of appropriate public policies for these workers in the community. They are teachers, fishermen, farmers, livestock breeders, seamstresses, and artisans, working in an environment of state neglect. The results also point to a significant unmet demand for access to health policies, negatively impacting their labor activities. Negligence is also observed in the provision of improvements in activities related to family farming and access to education. These factors affect women's lives during childbirth, resulting in sequelae, as well as in rural activities due to a lack of technological mechanisms and income generation opportunities, whether through credit lines/financing or professional qualification. Finally, there is a clear need for prioritizing equitable gender policies that ensure conditions for a dignified and humane life for women.