Mulheres no agronegócio : uma análise da construção da subjetividade feminina no agronegócio da fronteira oeste do Rio Grande do Sul.

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes how the increasing participation of women in agribusiness shapes the processes of female subjectivity formation, taking as its empirical focus the experiences of women working in agribusiness in the Western Frontier region of Rio Grande do Sul. The study starts from the recognition that, although agribusiness represents one of the main sectors of the Brazilian economy and has experienced growing female participation in different areas of activity, it remains conditioned by historical structures of gender inequality associated with patriarchal culture, the sexual division of labor, and the persistence of hierarchical power relations. In this context, the dissertation proposes an analysis that problematizes the historical and sociocultural meanings of expanding female participation in a traditionally masculinized sector, seeking to understand how these changes affect the construction of identities, spaces of recognition, and forms of women’s subjectivation. From a theoretical and methodological perspective, the study articulates contributions from relational sociology and feminist epistemologies, understanding social relations as historically constructed processes in which structure and agency mutually constitute one another. Methodologically, the research adopts a qualitative approach based on bibliographic review and fieldwork conducted through in depth interviews with eight women working in different segments of agribusiness in the Western Frontier region of Rio Grande do Sul. The data produced were analyzed based on discourse analysis frameworks, considering the historical, social, and cultural conditions underlying the production of the narratives. The results indicate that the expansion of women’s participation in agribusiness constitutes a complex process marked simultaneously by continuities and transformations. Greater female participation is observed in productive activities, management spaces, leadership positions, and decision making processes, expanding possibilities for social recognition, economic autonomy, and identity affirmation. However, such changes do not automatically imply the overcoming of gender inequalities, since mechanisms of symbolic hierarchization, stereotypes associated with gaucho traditionalism, and social expectations that continue to associate authority, leadership, and productive protagonism with masculinity remain persistent. It is concluded that the construction of female subjectivity in agribusiness occurs amid power relations, symbolic negotiations, and struggles for recognition, shaping trajectories marked by ambivalences, tensions, and diverse strategies of action. Therefore, the greater participation of women in the sector does not produce linear ruptures with traditional structures but rather triggers contradictory processes of reproduction and transformation of gender relations, highlighting the importance of analyses that articulate structural, territorial, and subjective dimensions in understanding women’s experiences in contemporary rural contexts.