Abstract

MARIANO, Silvana Aparecida. Female Agency and Autonomy: Contributions to Sociological Studies in Contexts of Urban Poverty. Rev. Estud. Fem. [online]. 2021, vol.29, n.3, e68075.  Epub Sep 01, 2021. ISSN 1806-9584.  https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9584-2021v29n368075.

Sociological knowledge has produced an extensive tradition based on the duality between the impossibility of agency and the voluntarism of action. Contemporary approaches, with contributions from feminists, have formulated the problem of agency and autonomy in order to escape this duality and offered more adequate constructs for investigations into the experiences of women. By combining the intersectional approach with the capabilities approach, this paper organizes an analytical resource capable of understanding agency and autonomy in a pendulum between constraints and choices. This undertaking is carried out considering the interweaving of gender, class, and race as a suggestion for studies in contexts of urban poverty, given its relevance to the debate on gender, poverty, and human development. This is a theoretical study on the proposed theme.

Keywords : feminism; female autonomy; poverty; agency; intersectionalities; Human development.

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