Abstract

RICHWIN, Iara Flor  and  ZANELLO, Valeska. Motherhood(s) of homeless women: Between violations and subjective restoration. Psicol. clin. [online]. 2022, vol.34, n.1, pp. 79-104. ISSN 0103-5665.  http://dx.doi.org/10.33208/PC1980-5438v0034n01A04.

The maternity of homeless women is an understudied topic, which blends lack of knowledge, stigmatization and violence. This study aims to analyze meanings and experiences of maternity under this condition, focusing on its subjective configurations and its effects on the mental health of women. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted, with in-depth interviews. It was found that maternity can promote important existential transformations for homeless women, in a cultural context in which "being a mother" is conceived as an essential and defining element of "being a woman". Maternity can constitute a locus of subjective organization and identity rescue, re-establishing desire and prospective visions and broadening possibilities for the future. However, it was also noticed that many women living on the streets have these possibilities threatened, since their maternity is a target of social helplessness, violations and separations. It is evident that these violations and interdictions of motherhood promote deep psychic suffering, with devastating effects on mental health. Simultaneously, it was clear that women do not experience this hardship passively, but develop resistance strategies based on alternative arrangements of motherhood and shared care networks, which can have a restorative effect on their mental health.

Keywords : homeless women; gender-based violence; maternity; motherhood; mental health.

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