Gender issues in the work of nursing in primary health in Brazil: Nurses' perceptions

Nursing practices have been built in association with health care policies, related to the way services were organized and to processes which have been connected to historical, political, social and gender associated contexts. This study has aimed to grasp the way the city nurses perceive their jobs in the primary health system in Campinas, a city in São Paulo state, in order to analyze social relations at work, under gender studies. Theoretical references were Gender and Work, and nursing has been understood as a feminine career, which perpetuates the social and gender division of work, between men and women. The data included the transcribed discussions from a workshop with six nurses, selected among assisting nurses. In the thematic analysis a couple categories have emerged: Nursing as a Feminine Career and Gender Relations. Nurses have perceived their jobs as feminine due to the gender related features of their work, due to the subjectivity of their job as knowing and doing in relationship, which is underestimated and not recognized socially. However, they have realized that the knowledge based on emotions and affection empowers their profession. The nurses operate in unequal intra gender relations, but they are similar to the ones other health system workers have faced, marked by domination and resistance tones. We have considered that the work of nurses in primary health is complex and marked by feminine, social, affection and subjective relations. Therefore, strategies which may give focus and empowerment to the feminine work of the nurses must be encouraged, allowing new social and political relations, directed towards a more specific project for the work of Brazilian and world nurses.
Key-words: Nursing in Public Health. Gender. Feminine Work. Primary Health.