FEMALE CONDITION OF MOTHERS IN SITUATIONS OF SOCIAL VULNERABILITY

agency, challenges, and social policies

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the social vulnerabilities faced by mothers treated at Family Health Units in the South Zone of Pato Branco/PR. It considers the social determinants of health, such as access to income, time for self-care, formal employment, drinking water, food, education, and electricity. To understand the structuring relationships of this reality, it uses the theories of intersectionality and consubstantiality of social relations, highlighting the interdependencies between race, sex, and class. The research is quantitative and qualitative, with data obtained through questionnaires applied to 109 pregnant women or mothers of children up to two years old, living in territories marked by social and health vulnerabilities. The questionnaires were collected between 2022 and 2023, systematized in Excel. The data are part of a survey by the Tutorial Education Program in Health (PET-Saúde), which aims to strengthen the integration between teaching, service, and community. The results indicate several expressions of socioeconomic vulnerabilities, such as low income, food insecurity, low education, household overload, and the feminization and racialization of poverty. Despite this, strategies of female agency were identified, such as the activation of institutional and community networks for the production of care.