“Assédio nosso de cada dia”: análise do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Maranhão a partir das relações de gênero no trabalho

Abstract

Harassment in women's labor relations is the object of study in this dissertation, which addresses it as violence at work and through the work, under the strong influence of gender inequalities. The research was carried out with female employees from the Federal Institute of Science and Technology of Maranhão (IFMA), aiming to identify the configurations of harassment experienced by them in the work environment, its implications, as well as the ways of dealing with this violence, both by the victims and also by the Institution. So, the methodological path was guided by dialectical historical materialist method, as a basis for investigation and analysis, from which we can highlight these central categories: work, gender, violence and harassment. The investigation has a predominantly qualitative character, although it also has a quantitative data source, constituted by means of bibliographic and documental research that subsidized the analysis of the data collected in the field research, which was done by applying online questionnaires to 190 female employees from 28 campuses and the rectory. Based on theoretical ground, harassment was identified as a reconfiguration of violence at work, seeing that mechanisms of violence are used against workers since the most remote times. It so happens that the capitalist system, under the current neoliberal orientation, adopts work management strategies that encourage disputes, conflicts, competitiveness, individualism, struggle for places, resulting the weakening of the ties between workers. That fact is confirmed by the research data when it reveals that the moral harassment has been practiced mostly by men gender, causing often irreversible implications to the victims physical and mental health. Barriers were observed to confronting harassment by the workers who, for the most part, are not able to formalize complaints, but also by the institution, that usually adopts timid measures, considering the seriousness of that. It is also noteworthy that, despite jurisprudence and some legal provisions against harassment, Brazil still does not have a specific legislation to combat that type of violence, excepting to sexual harassment – briefly inserted into the Brazilian Criminal Code. Productive restructuring, under the neoliberal flexibilization bias, added to the strong patriarchal heritage that feeds gender inequalities, drive insecure and violent labor relationships, which is a fertile ground to the practice of moral and sexual harassment, with the State being co-responsible for its existence and reproduction. For that reason, this research has great relevance not only to IFMA, but also to several subjects, institutions, organizations and movements that experience the complexity of such violence resulting from gender inequalities, and it may contribute to its confrontation.