La (re)producción de la desigualdad de género en la educación brasileñaun estudio sobre la carrera docente en el Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Alagoas

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to analyse gender inequality in the academic career at the Instituto Federal of Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Alagoas (Ifal). Ifal is a Brazilian institution dedicated to professional education that has undergone a number of transformations and currently represents a model of institution that offers education at various levels. Ifal is characterized by the connection between science, professionalization, and social inclusion. The thesis examines the different career paths that men and women follow in the institution. In order to highlight the inequalities at both national and Ifal levels, genders indicators have been developed, a necessary preliminary step to conduct of research. The analysis has three objectives: (1) to understand the unequal relations experienced by the Ifal academic staff throughout their academic career; (2) to comprehend the way in which male and female professors construct representations of the position they hold at Ifal; and (3) to understand how these experiences and perceptions generate different positions for men and women at the Institute. To achieve these objectives, in-depth interviews were conducted. The interviews allow access to the perceptions of the interviewees, seeking to reveal the meanings attributed to the reality shared by the academic staff at Ifal. These qualitative results are organized into three main levels: individual, organizational, and social. They are all interrelated, and the analysis is also performed in intersection with variables of class and race. At the individual level, the characteristics developed by the academic staff are presented, reflecting how men and women internalize different needs and dispositions, which contributes to the perpetuation of inequalities in their relations. At the organizational level, the relationships established in the workplace are studied, which produce a division of labour by gender with a subordination relationship between genders. And finally, at the social level, it is shown how science and family represent institutions that contribute to structuring an exclusionary gender order at Ifal. Finally, the pandemic and political context during the research period is analysed given that this context accentuated the experienced differences. The question situated at every level contributed to the reproduction of gender inequalities among the professors at Ifal. However, the research also reveals conceptions and practices that are opposed to the hegemonic model and problematize the naturalization of inequalities