Teaching work, gender relations and illness

Abstract

In addition to the adversities that the mode of production and the work process affect teachers' illness, the social marker of gender puts women at a disadvantage and ends up intensifying illness. The objective of this research was to analyze the impact of the gender social marker on the health-disease process related to the work of public school teachers in the city of Salvador. As for the method, it is an empirical research, with a qualitative approach, based on the socio-historical perspective. We used direct observations and semi-structured interviews as data production instruments. Three teachers participated in the study. Data were transcribed and systematized into semantic categories according to the content analysis technique. The results showed that the teachers perceive connections between the illness and work, identify the impacts of the precariousness of the profession and the teaching work process, as well as signaling important inequalities in the sexual division of unpaid domestic work. As conclusions, the research indicates that gender inequalities are intertwined with the illness, and also points out that the routine marked by the exhaustion of professional practice and the overload of unpaid domestic work are obstacles for teachers to seek coping strategies for the illness. work related.