O mar é masculino? O trabalho das mulheres na maricultura, Ponta da Ilha/Jurujuba, Niterói - RJ

Abstract

This study focuses on the sexual division of labor on the artisanal fishery activity, specific on mussel’s production in Jurujuba, in Niterói on Rio de Janeiro State. From the observation (and participation) on the daily work and life stories reported from seven fisherwomen and a fishermen, we have the scenario of the proposed discussion. Each stage that involve mussel’s production will be presented, at the same time that life stories will give us elements that make possible to understand a complex of power relations (and therefore, gender) which perpasses the activity. This ethnography shows some aspects of their work life that vary with the unpredictable sea conditions, but also reflect absences and violences that permeate the daily life of the women in the activity. The last ones, even not always explicit, answer to an established order, many times, predictable. The same that defines the sea as male. This is a picture from some women in Ponta da Ilha, which maybe also the one from other fisherwomen in some suburb area. The sea reported here is female too even if it may not appear.