Abstract

DIOGO, Maria Fernanda  and  MAHEIRIE, Kátia. Some senses of domestic labor for women who work with cleaning and conservation for service providers. Cad. psicol. soc. trab. [online]. 2008, vol.11, n.2, pp. 257-272. ISSN 1516-3717.

This article has tried to understand some senses attributed to the reproductive sphere for women who work with cleaning and conservation for service providers, starting from meaning in their narratives. The domestic and paid works are alike, because both are configured as services of cleaning and conservation, although the domestic labor includes greater amount and complexity of tasks. In a case study, we accomplished individual semi-structured interviews, with the sociohistorical perspective as base for analysis of the information. The method was progressive-regressive, detaching the objectivity of subjectivity and focusing the particularity among the universal. The meaning given to the productive and reproductive spheres sometimes were closed by, others went away. This project evidenced the subordination of the reproduction to the production and a double works physically stressful. The narratives marked that the workers were responsible for the accomplishment of the domestic labor, being per times "helped" by the apprentice-daughter, reproducing social places occupied for males and females. The domestic labor acquired "fatality" meaning ("natural" consequence of gender relationships), to be tiring, repetitive, endless and, "heroic" meaning, valuing the dignity of the feminine submission and self-denial. On the other hand, it also presented an extremely important aspect of the daily social relationships, which takes place in the caring notion to the family nucleus and in satisfaction and pleasure feelings for the accomplishment for the domestic labor.

Keywords : Meaning of labor; Domestic labor; Gender relationships.

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