Biografías de género en contextos de cambio. Chile 1973-2010

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the perceptions of men and women regarding changes in gender relations that occurred in contexts of political, economic, and institutional transformations in Chile between 1973 and 2010 as well as the facilitating conditions for challenging gender inequalities provided by their family, social, work, cultural, and institutional environments. The study adopted a qualitative methodology of a descriptive type and employed a biographical approach. The purposive sample was comprised by 25 professional men and women grouped into 2 generations depending on their time of entry to the labor market (1973-1989 and 1990-2010), with whom life stories were generated. The narrators from both generations identified major changes in gender relations in several social areas, highlighting the positive consequences of this, especially for women. They also pointed out certain family, labor, educational, and social conditions that favored transformations of gender relations. In the accounts of men and women, it was possible to identify social interaction mechanisms that reproduce inequalities, which shows the complexity of gender-related transformations.