Entre a vida privada e a esfera pública: a trajetória de vida política de Alcaldesas do primeiro e segundo ciclo municipal do Uruguai (2010-2020)

Abstract

This dissertation is characterized as an empirical study approaching women and politics, within the set of studies dedicated to the analysis of the construction of political careers, seeking to discuss the inequalities faced by seventeen women in the course of their trajectories in municipal politics in Uruguay. The overall objective of the work was to investigate the reasons and challenges that led Alcaldesas to become involved in politics, culminating in their participation in Uruguay’s municipal councils. To address the proposition posed by the dissertation, the research intended to structure the political life trajectory of seventeen Alcaldesas who took office in Uruguay’s first two municipal cycles (2010-2020). The trajectory of political life comprises the association of four dimensions: Public Sphere, Private Life, Territorial Framework, and Gender Political Perspectives. Thus, the research has characteristics that bring it closer to gender studies and feminist political theory, because based on these assumptions, the analysis was scaled, going beyond the disputes fought in the political arena, seeking the answers of the construction of the political career also in the private life of the interviewees. The methodology for obtaining the results included the operationalization of two field works in Uruguay (2014 and 2020), when semi-structured interviews were conducted with the Alcaldesas who agreed to participate in the investigation. Also included, as secondary sources, were the electoral results made available by the Uruguayan Electoral Court, the consultation on official municipal websites, the collection of 2011 census data, the examination of sociodemographic studies granted by the Territory Uruguay Observatory, and the exploration of digital materials produced by national and local newspapers made available on the web. From the organization of the material and the structuring of the dimensions that gave meaning to the trajectories of political life, we observed different reasons for the entry of these women into politics, which is supported by the different social, economic and territorial realities of each one. However, despite being very different women in terms of challenges and adversities, from the reports we found a homogenization among the Uruguayan women’s perceptions, whose explanation lies in the structural inequality experienced by men and women, in the pretentious separation of the public and private spheres, and in the sexual division of labor that traditionally defines social roles for men and women.