ABSTRACT
This paper aims to investigate how gender is done and undone in politics. The life story of a councilwoman was analyzed and data were collected in 13 meetings. The interview was the main tool used in this study, given it allowed the researcher to understand the connection between the participant’s life story and gender doing and undoing in the context of politics. The data analysis was carried out through discourse analysis and it was possible to verify the importance and influence of family, school and work on gender performances as well as performativity in the municipal legislative chamber. The stories narrated by the councilwoman show that power relations in such context reveal performativities and regulate their potential performances in the legislative context at the municipal level. Therefore, it was concluded that the participant resorts to simulating masculinity as a survival strategy in such environment.
KEYWORDS:
Gender; Politics; Performance; Performativity; Identity