Labor challenges and female resistance in a university context

Abstract

This article intends to contextualize the situation lived by female outsourced workers of UnB, who are responsible for taking care of the physical space of the University. From the interview with the worker whose identity is protected under the pseudonym Juliana, we realized how the lives of these women are affected, in many ways, by the lack of social recognition of their profession. Outsourcing is already a form of precariousness of the labor union protection, and, besides that, we see that gender inequality and racism contribute to accentuate the devaluation of the workforce. The lack of institutional support in moments like pregnancy and motherhood, for instance, are factors that dehumanize the labor relations, jeopardizing the mental health of the women who, because of financial difficulties, have to submit themselves to a mechanistic and disciplinary vision of their bodies. Authors such as Silvia Federici and Angela Davis offer us theoretical basis to reason this conjuncture under a feminist approach.