Trajetórias laborais e projetos de aposentadorias de mulheres em processo de envelhecimento:possibilidades no novo cenário previdenciário.

Abstract

The 2019 Pension Reform in Brazil introduced significant legislative changes that profoundly affected citizens' ability to retire and enjoy rest after an active working life. For women, the focus of this research, the most impactful changes included the establishment of a minimum retirement age of 62, the extension of the contribution period, and the elimination of retirement based solely on contribution time, which previously did not require a minimum age. This study aimed to understand how women plan and navigate their aging and retirement processes under the constraints of the new social security framework. It considered how these reforms disrupted previously established retirement plans and aging strategies. The research explored work trajectories and contribution capacities across different groups of women to identify potential avenues for accessing social protection or securing financial stability through alternative means. Conducted in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, the study employed a qualitative approach using narrative interviews with 24 female workers aged 35 to 64. These participants included personal care professionals, teachers, and freelance workers with diverse occupations, forms of labor market participation, and employment trajectories. The trajectories analyzed showed that caregivers continue to work as a way to ensure their livelihood in the face of uncertainties about retirement and insufficient income to ensure their survival. Due to the current socioeconomic scenario in which they are inserted and the constitution of fragmented occupational trajectories, which are incapable of providing minimum conditions for experiencing better old age. For teachers and independent professionals, work also appears in future projects, however, as an expression of desires and a way of realizing other interests. Teachers mobilize themselves in better ways to achieve what they plan for when they grow old, rely on family retirement and have more secure fields of possibilities for this time, being able to experience new experiences beyond work. Independent professionals, when they grow old, have retirement plans and strategies (assets, etc.) that ensure protection and new fields of action to plan new experiences during this time.