A Mulher paraguaia da fronteira e as políticas de assistência social

Abstract

The “Paraguayan Frontier Woman” does not enjoy her full rights in the services of Social Assistance Policies in Brazil. Psychology to contribute to the construction of new practices requires dialogue with the field of anthropology, sociology, the debate on frontier issues and multiculturalism. The concept of “frontier” here established, designates an expansion front. We understand this concept as a form of interrelations between different media, also treated as relations between two different territories, a notion of fluid boundary, where there is the possibility of more communication and interaction. The research presented here aims to understand the meanings of the "Paraguayan Border Woman" attributed by women users of public social assistance policies, from a gender perspective. In addition to interviews with a semi-structured script, we carried out a sociodemographic questionnaire based on tools from the Research Core and Research Group on Discursive Practices and Production of Senses in Daily Life, from the Postgraduate Studies Program in Social Psychology of the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (SPINK, M., 2003a, 2003b) and the research "Gender and the Senses of Social Work" carried out by CURADO (2008). In the sectors of Social Assistance in Ponta-Porã (MS), in the Brazil-Paraguay border. As a partial result of this research, we can say that recognizing the situation of social vulnerability faced by “Paraguayan Frontier Woman” is fundamental for the construction of spaces for empowerment, reconstruction and acceptance. It is a situation of identity fragility in which cultural conflicts such as language, beliefs and customs are generators of prejudice and social unprotection.