Mulheres e trabalho do cuidado na hospitalização pediátrica: entre o direito e a apropriação

Abstract

The object of study in this work is the care activities carried out by women who accompany hospitalized users in the Pediatric Wards and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital Universitário Onofre Lopes - HUOL/ UFRN. Bibliographic research was systematically conducted through theoretical readings surrounding the Unitary Theory of Social Reproduction from the perspective of historical materialism, which theoretically and methodologically supported the object. Empirical research was developed through the analysis of the researcher's field diaries, and documentary research examined social interviews, norms, institutional productions, as well as current legislation on the subject. The results revealed that the reality of HUOL translates, at a micro-level, the various ways in which neoliberalism, the current stage of capitalism, has intensified its impact on the work carried out by women. This is reflected in the ideological understanding of care work as a cost rather than an investment. The data shows that HUOL appropriates a portion of the unpaid work carried out by women companions, work that is performed through caring for the users, while marginalizing the health demands of these companions in the pediatric sector.