Gender, generation and social class: a debate about women in middle and popular layers in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This article presents a comparison of data from two researches which aim at verifying the continuities and discontinuities in the gender representations in different generations of middle and popular-layer families in Rio de Janeiro State: that of grandmothers, of mothers and their daughters. Here we privileged the perceptions of the woman's social place in the context of the transformations in course in Brazilian society. Taking into account the growth of female participation in the labor market as well as the heightening of the women's schooling level, we are particularly interested in getting to know the representations and the practices of the members of these three generations abound family, religion and female professionalization.

Women; Gender; Generations; Social Change