Dynamics of Suffering of Female Brazilian Psychology Students: Interfaces with the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The asymmetric construction of gender roles in the Brazilian society contributes to the fact that, currently, women's experiences in the university environment are marked by gender bias. This situation was aggravated by the pandemic. The present research aimed to evaluate the dynamics of pleasure and suffering in the academic work of undergraduate psychology students at the University of Brasília, Brazil, as well as to identify the main strategies used by them to face it. The theoretical-methodological perspective adopted was the psychodynamics of work and female work. The research is characterized as descriptive, quantitative and qualitative. The Work-Related Injury Scale was applied to 196 female students and eight focus groups were held, with an average of 4 (four) participants each. As a result, in the quantitative stage, it was found that, in the three factors of the scale, a median result was obtained, which means a state of alert regarding the harm and psychosocial risks related to work. In the qualitative stage, six categories were identified: "Being a woman and being a student", "Intersections of suffering", "Impact of the pandemic at work", "Collective mediation strategies", "Individual mediation strategies" and "Socio-professional relationships". The results are discussed considering that women still have to deal with the triple workload overload, and that they do not feel safe to freely occupy the university environment, implying the need to promote more institutional listening and welcoming spaces, so that it is possible to build strategies to transform the organization of work. Shortterm actions are recommended so that the alert state in relation to risks at work is not aggravated.