Ensina a teu filho o caminho que deve andar: opções e vivências religiosas de mulheres chefes de família, em Salvador, Ba

Abstract

This dissertation aims to understand the changes and transformations that occur when a wom-an who is a single or separate mother converts herself to an evangelical or batist church. The articulation of the dimensions female heads of family with Protestant religion expresses the problematic that both families and religion have gone through significant changes in contem-porary religious profile of Brazilian society and families. Besides, this family arrangement is the most increasing group in the Brazilian urban context. This study makes an assumption that religious values and principles have been established in contemporary as an important support to this type of family. The study was based on a qualitative research, based on the question-naires, secondary data and on extensively interviewing seven evangelical families living in the municipality of Salvador, state of Bahia, chosen by the following criteria: women head (with unmarried and separated converted women); converted women who assiduously attend the Church; presence of little children and dependants; belonging to low social class; absence of the father in the daily family life. Narratives on their experiences since their families of origin, to the single parenting and to the evangelical confession tried to answer the question of how these changes were processed in their lives when religion emerged as an element of structuring the family ethos. When women converted themselves they searched in these churches support to themselves and to their families for diverse problems associated with urban life, social inequalities and disagreements in the affective-sexual life. It was verified that the conversion was associated to the moment of life cycle that coincided with the constitution of female monoparental family with small children, leading these women to the evangelical church. It confirmed the assumption that the female single families adhesion to religious practices brings positive consequences related to their children orientation as it modifies the private ethos private in conjunction with the religious ethos.