Discursos de mulheres idosas que sofreram violência familiar e são alunas de uma Universidade Aberta da Terceira Idade em Manaus, Amazonas

Abstract

Violence against women is a phenomenon that has existed for millennia of years and is greatly influenced by gender constructions embedded in society, based on patriarchal thinking. Women are intertwined by layers of oppression throughout history, which reach them in different proportions and intensities according to issues of gender, generation, race and social class. These factors make elderly women the main victims of family violence, and this violence is legitimized by families. When elderly, women often suffer discrimination in the labor market, class discrimination, as they lose their retirement money to children, grandchildren and other adults in the family, as well as suffering from gender prejudice, given that women violence occurs less frequently with elderly men, who continue to occupy the role of heads of households. Based on this assumption, Intersectionality is a concept that will be part of the analysis of this research's data, since such a theory, founded on black feminism, allows prejudices and inequities to be studied according to the crossings of each woman. Violence, although affecting virtually all women, does not affect them equally, because each one is crossed by a subjective reality that is defined based on their age group, race, social class, socioeconomic context, among others. And all these characteristics are interconnected, forming an interweaving of oppressions. This research can serve as a contribution to assist in the formulation of new laws and mechanisms that can act more quickly and proficiently in this new pandemic context that has changed relationships and daily life, and in the consequences that will appear in the future, bringing reliable information and data to the society as a whole, which can be part of the support network, helping neighborhood members, friendship circles and family members in coping with this situation. That said, the research has the general objective: to understand the discourses of elderly women who have suffered family violence and attend an Open University for the Third Age in Manaus, Amazonas in the light of Zanello's Theory of Devices (2018) and Intersectionality, based on Nogueira (2017) and Akotirene (2020) in addition to repercussions experienced in the context of the pandemic, emphasizing the regional political scenario and territorial erasures. This is a research with a qualitative approach, with an exploratory character. The collaborators are elderly women who have experienced or are experiencing situations of family violence and who attend the Fundação Universidade Aberta da Terceira Idade (FUNATI) in Manaus. The instruments used were a socioeconomic questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. At the end, we saw that the collaborators' speeches, around violence, are diverse, and they attribute different meanings to the phenomenon. Although there is a common factor between them: violence has always been a constant in their lives, and therefore, they understand it as something inevitable. From this, they find strategies to live with this violence, instead of moving away from abusive relationships and severing the bond with their aggressors. As well as the search for comfort and answers through spirituality, even though religion, on the other hand, is recognized by them as strengthening violence. We also concluded that the way in which they see violence when it comes from their children is different from when the perpetrator is the partner. As the main limitation of this study, we emphasize the difficulties in recruiting collaborators within FUNATI, considering that this is a delicate topic. We managed to get around this limitation from conversations with teachers and other professionals who have an attentive and careful look, and they suggested names that we could talk about and present the research. It is necessary to work to minimize the neglect of the institutions that work with the direct confrontation of violence, especially the police stations, since these are the first contact of these women after taking the decision to file a complaint. Future studies are needed that consider the Intersectionality between gender and generation and have the context of the north of the country as a background. In addition to studies that explore in depth the socio-emotional role that institutions like FUNATI have on their students.