Abstract
This article is the outcome of a research project carried out aiming to analyze the institutionalization of the work of community health agents in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by evaluating how a gender perspective present in these workers' qualification policy has affected how the profession is formed. A total of 167 agents took part of the study between 2011 and 2013. First, the gender perspective present in this State's policies directed to the agents is presented. The work experience of these workers in the implementation of the Family Health Program in the city and its relation to the skills seen as innate to the female condition are analyzed, followed by an investigation of how the primary care reform undertaken by the Municipal Health and Civil Defense Department in 2009 has affected the agents' work process. It was found that with the new types of management adopted, the agents have been distancing themselves from the communities they serve, thus losing the unique features that gave meaning and brought recognition to their work.
Keywords
community health agents; genre; work