Universidade e maternidade: a experiência de mulheres que se tornaram mães durante a graduação.

Abstract

Reconciling motherhood and academic life can pose great challenges, as they are commitments that require a lot of dedication, time, care and emotional involvement. This issue is especially difficult in the context of a patriarchal society, in which the responsibilities and care for the offspring and the house fall to women, increasing the physical and mental fatigue resulting from motherhood, especially in the baby's first year. Given this scenario, this research aimed to analyze the impacts of motherhood on the academic performance of students who became mothers during graduation. Seeking to investigate the main difficulties faced by university mothers, the possible determining factors in the continuity or not of studies after motherhood of university students. A qualitative-quantitative-qualitative study with a descriptive and analytical approach was carried out, which evaluated the profile and perceptions of 24 female university students who gave birth or had one or more children during their graduation course in higher education institutions located in the states of Paraíba and Pernambuco . The collection instrument used was a semi-structured virtual form, containing 60 questions, in order to assess the family, cultural and economic context in which the informants live, with questions about academic trajectory, performance, difficulties, perceptions about academic performance before and after motherhood and the father's participation in the care of the child(ren). Additionally, content analysis focused on experience reports about motherhood and university in social networks was performed. From the results obtained in the research, a noticeable burden was found in the self-assessment of academic, professional and domestic performance. There was an increase in the percentage of dropping out or failing subjects 9 (42.9%) ended up dropping out or failing between 1 to 2 subjects, 3 (14.3%) between 3 to 4 subjects and 1 (4.8%) dropped out or failed 7 or more subjects after motherhood, while, before becoming mothers, those who had already dropped out or failed were only 8 (40%). Thoughts about giving up the course also went from 1 (4.8%) who considered the option frequently to 12 (52.2%) with this thought after motherhood. It is not, however, something inevitable the support network is identified as essential by 11 informants who are in course in progress and the 10 who managed to conclude