Resistance and resignation: gender narratives in the choice of Nursing and Education

Abstract

This article analyzes narratives of undergraduate students, enrolled in Nursing and Pedagogy programs at two private colleges in São Paulo (SP), based on an ethnographic research. In particular, it focuses on gender narratives (articulated with social class and age), elucidating how the students themselves perceive their choices. In the case of admission to the Nursing program, there are reports about the difficulties of getting into the Medicine program, on the one hand; and, the expectations of exceeding the technical level, or having a profession with social recognition, on the other. In the case of Pedagogy, it deals with the challenge of reconciling the aptitude for teaching with the pragmatic aspects, in view of a more accessible, although little appreciated, program. In both careers, the processes of feminization of these areas are produced and reproduced through persistent associations between femininity and care.