Woman-warrior, woman-man: Recognition of the work and its meanings in the perception of female recycling workers

Abstract

The study aimed to reveal the recognition of the work and of its meanings in the perception of female recycling workers of a recycling cooperative. It is a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study, undertaken with female recycling workers in a recycling cooperative in a municipality of the central region of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The data were produced through participant observation, semistructured interviews (held with seven women) and focus groups (with six women), between July and August 2013; the data were analyzed using content analysis. The results show that the dynamic of the recognition is complex and involves situations of valorization and of prejudice. The female workers elaborate individual and collective meanings for the work which they undertake, represented, principally, by the self image of “Woman-warrior” and “Woman-man”. It is concluded that recognition and meanings of the work correlate with how the female recycling workers experience and understand their work.