A terceira jornada de trabalho da mulher na contemporaneidade

Abstract

The marked presence of women in the labor market, performed outside the family environment and understood to be the second workday, has revealed women’s ongoing participation in the most varied positions and functions, despite continuing to be the persons mainly responsible for domestic activities, especially those related to the education of children, which is considered the first workday. The situation is accentuated when "it’s all up to me" is incorporated in these workdays. The emotional and psychological burden existing in this scenario sometimes prevents an optimal performance at work outside the domestic environment, while simultaneously the woman is required to be the "perfect" mother, daughter, wife, sister, excellent housewife (administrator of the home) and impeccable woman who must conform physically to the standards demanded by society. In addition to all this, there is an overburden of responsibilities at work since the workplace is demanding and competitive. In this way, professional qualification and ongoing enhancement to remain on a par with men to hold onto their job, added to their other tasks, results in a superhuman performance and an excessive workload. This even implies abnegation of personal needs, and potentially prejudices women's physical and mental health, representing a triple workday. In this context, it is observed that women are involved in multiple activities and must cope with all of them. Thus, this work sought to understand how women who develop activities inside and outside the family environment perform a triple workday, and what the implications of this are for social and family relationships and their health. This study adopted a descriptive and analytical character based on a qualitative approach. Data collection was conducted using two techniques: 1) documentary research to analyze women's work from a legal standpoint; and 2) semi-structured interviews with eighteen women who performed multiple functions and are from different social classes. The results confirmed that women are responsible for innumerable activities that cannot generally be computed. Besides being unquantifiable, the activities are practically invisible when fulfilled, however non-fulfillment results in being perceived as irresponsible or negligent even by people close to the women, according to the reports of the interviewees. In most of the narratives, overburden and overwork were identified, as well as the fact that women under scrutiny here need to struggle to cope with the lato sensu modern-day pressures and demands of the labor market that call for professional qualification, even under penalty of becoming unemployed, which would exacerbate the family financial situation. The conclusion drawn is that the triple workday has harmful implications for women's work, family life and health. From this perspective, the results of this research revealed how the triple workday is implicated in women's lives, permeating their daily lives in a subtle, invisible and immeasurable way and consequently obliging them to establish strategies to deal with and handle the pressures arising from the need to reconcile multiple activities in diverse environments, not least the domestic area.