O Discurso oficial e as representações de paternidade em saúde

Abstract

Introduction: Considering the positive aspects arising from the exercise of paternity, it is essential to strengthen the involvement of men in caring for their children, from family planning to general care for the child. Understanding the exercise of paternity as part of a historical, social and cultural construction, we understand that health can be an important area to encourage paternity and thus break with practices that contribute to the care of children to be exercised only by women. It is known, however, that the health area also presents itself contradictorily as a space that attributes female responsibility to the care of children, often imposing institutional barriers that keep the father from this process. Objectives: To establish relationships between representations about fatherhood in the official discourse and the naturalization of gender roles in Maternal and Child Health. Method: This is a qualitative research of documentary character carried out through the discursive analysis of the manuals and booklets of the Ministry of Health and other writings or public speeches about baby care from the perspective of maternal and paternal attributions. Thus, the Foucaltian genealogy is used to analyze the visibility and institutionalized sayability of the parent subject. Results: The analysis of the material reveals how the official discourse, even though it proposes greater involvement of men in the care and strengthening of bonds with their partners and children, contradictorily, for not being committed to overcoming gender inequality, ends up reaffirming practices who blame, naturalize non-participation and, consequently, remove men from health services.