Abstract
Based on a feminist perspective and on the social psychology of work, this study aimed to analyze the meanings of work and gender arising from illness narratives of female workers of the garment industry of Criciúma, Santa Catarina. This exploratory empirical research was conducted from the social constructionism perspective, with qualitative data collected by means of interviews conducted with four garment workers. The results indicate that the work in the garment industry comprises a means of socialization and subjectivation of workers, besides triggering illness in the relation between factory, domestic, and care work. From a gender perspective, the sexual division of labor remains as an obstacle to reaching equity in the labor context before the constant maintenance of the exploratory nature of activities performed by women, the invisibility in the reproductive scope, and the precarization of productive work.
Keywords:
Garment Industry; Work; Gender; Illness; Sense of Work