Gênero e trabalho: um estudo sobre as quebradeiras de coco babaçu - Jatobá/Ma.

Abstract

This study focuses upon a group of women of a community called Jatoba, located in the state of Maranhao, that lives off the extraction of the babassu coconut and who call themselves "babassu coconut breakers." The objective is to understand the life and work of these women, by means of a perspective of the social relationships of gender. With the field data, and using techniques such as semi-structured interviews, direct observation, reports, life histories and pictures as additions to the data, we verified that the breaking of the babassu coconut, due to position with which it is accomplished, is subjective in the social imagination of Jatoba as an activity specifically feminine, having been created barriers for the men to insert themselves into this activity. In spite of an expressive number of men that break the coconut, they prefer to maintain unseen. We verified that in spite of the main income for the reproduction of the family coming from the breaking of the coconut - accomplished by women - the man continues maintaining his provider position inside of the domestic group, the woman's work being seen as supplementary. We concluded that the position that the woman and man occupy inside of the family, in this community, is basically determined by the sex that they belong to.