Abstract:
In the contemporary world, society continues to establish patterns of conduct which women should follow. Among these is the strong social expectation which pressures women to marriage and maternity. The goal of this work is to analyze which factors influence women over thirty to give priority to a professional career, autonomy and financial stability postponing the idea of marriage and maternity. This phenomenon has led to a comprehension of the life style of some single women in the 21st century, who broke with socially pre-established patterns which were maintained throughout a long period of history. For the development of the research, besides bibliographic materials and specialized literature, a survey of data was carried out through interviews and participant observation. A research of a qualitative approach was carried out with six women who have the following profile in common: being single, being over 30 years old, residing in the city of Parnaíba/PI, not having children and being inserted in the work market. This paper is substantiated on the feminist epistemology and “gender” was adopted as a category of analysis of a political and relational character which involves power relations, articulated with other dimensions of social life such as class, race/ethnicity, age and generation. The first chapter traces a historical line about the incongruences in the traditional culture, the social destiny of the women and the place of the single women, bringing firstly reflections on the feminist movement and its contributions to the achievements of new ways of being a woman in current society. Following, a discussion is carried out about the construction of social norms to restrict the women to the roles of wife, mother and house keeper. The chapter also brings the presentation of the paths and dead-ends encountered in the research as well as data about the socio-economic and cultural profile of the research participants. Chapter two presents the analysis and the divulgement of the data obtained, presenting the trajectories, conceptions and narratives about the perceptions about marriage, focusing on changes and what remains the same regarding the latter, as well as the influence of religiosity in these perceptions. The women in the study, in general, are considered women who managed to break with the social stigma predestined to the women in society.
