by Isabel Mayumi Zerbinato, Laura Melo Avelar and Raquel Garcia Gonçalves
Abstract:
This paper starts from the concepts of urban space production, right to the city, and the sexual division of labor, seeking to reflect on the female role in housing movements and the process that leads to greater assimilation between the private (home) and the public (urban) spheres, considering the principle that "the personal is political". The methodological procedures adopted involve bibliographical research and an interview conducted with one of the coordinators of the Movement of Struggle in Bairros, Vilas, and Favelas.
Keywords: female protagonism; sexual division of labor; right to housing.
Introduction
This paper intends to reflect on the role of women in social movements for housing. To this end, it sets a relationship between the idea of the right to the city and gender, based on the understanding that women make up a significant number of leaders in the occupations throughout the city. The question is: what is the role of women in these occupations? Is it possible to link this role to the social gender difference in the relationship with the home? How can we relate the idea of the right to the city with gender?
Considering that urban space is "a social product, the result of actions accumulated over time, and engendered by agents who produce and consume space" (Côrrea, 1989), it is understood that there is a dispute of interests between these agents – the owners of the means of production and the excluded social groups – over the function and value of urban land. Historically, the land question in Brazil has generally operated under the logic of capital in the service of hegemonic groups. The lower social classes also contribute, according to their material conditions, to the production of urban space, even when subjected to socio-spatial segregation.
This context of exclusion contributes to the intensification of urban conflicts. Among them, we highlight those related to the issue of housing. At first, the right to housing is understood as part of a set of other rights that make up what Lefebvre (2016) presents as the right to the city. Currently, the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 proposes to protect it as an inviolable right. However, the country reveals an enormous housing deficit linked to the actions of the agents that produce the urban space, who own capital, and to the omission of the State.
The João Pinheiro Foundation indicates that, in 2015, the Minas Gerais State had the second-largest housing deficit in the country and that the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte lacked 158,000 homes. This problem progresses due to real estate speculation and the interests of capital. And it persists even though the number of vacant homes in occupancy condition and under construction totals almost 194,000 units in the RMBH, which would be, in a rudimentary way, enough to reduce the entire deficit.
In 2001, the City Statute was enacted, which, among the advances instituted towards the development of less unequal cities, promotes the concept of the social function of urban property, regulating Articles 182 and 183 of the 1988 Federal Constitution. It is understood that properties that are not adequately fulfilling their social function, that is, their use "for the collective good, the citizens' safety, and well-being, as well as for environmental balance", can be taxed through progressive taxes and even expropriated.
In this context, the social housing movements have intensified, whose central demand is the fight for urban reform, which "aims to democratize the right to the city, restructuring unused or underused urban space to ensure access to housing and other social rights, such as leisure, culture, health, and education" (MLB, 2014). Thus, they start from the idea that to occupy is:
an act of rebellion, of confrontation with the established order, of questioning the 'sacred' capitalist private property. [...] Every occupation of unused property, whether public or private, is legitimate because while living with dignity is a privilege, occupying is a duty of the housing movement! (MLB, 2014)
When organizing and erecting an occupation, these groups act as agents producers of urban space, weaving new socio-spatial realities into the fabric of the city that often goes against the interests of the hegemonic classes. This paper highlights the role of women in the consolidation and leadership of urban occupations. The perspicuity of this role goes through the discernment of the sexual division of labor.
This power dynamic is structured based on "social relations of sex" (Hirata & Kergoat, 2007), whose constitution is characterized by "the priority assignment of men to the productive sphere and of women to the reproductive sphere and, simultaneously, the apprehension by men of functions with strong social added value" (Ibid). It is understood that affinities were constructed, therefore, between the feminine, reproductive labor, and private space, in opposition (and tension) to the masculine, productive labor and public space. This segregation by gender depoliticizes women and their domestic work since, according to Vianna (2014), "the public space is considered the political space par excellence, and the home has always been placed as a space solely of the family's competence." When reproductive work is considered apolitical, it remains for men to exercise actual politics. Nevertheless, "The State" – representative of collective capital – can be interpreted as the "real 'Man' who benefits from domestic labor" (Federici, 2019).
A hierarchization of female and male roles in society is established, so that the man is placed in a position of provider and representative of the public sphere in the family nucleus, since he is the one who has a paid workforce, relating to the home environment as a place of rest and leisure. For most women, on the other hand, the home remains seen as a place of work (Muxí Martínez, 2018).
Domestic work, in addition to having been imposed on women, "has also been transformed into a natural attribute of the female psyche and personality [...] rather than being recognized as work because it was meant to be unpaid." (Federici, 2019), that is, an invisibilization and devaluation of female effort occur, which is considered by society only as an act of love, affection, and dedication, even if it is a basic function for its existence and functioning. As Kapp and Lino (2008) argue, " without reproduction, there is no production, because it would have no object, nor would it have anyone to perform it."
When analyzing the sexual division of labor, it is essential to emphasize that the participation of a large part of women in the sphere of productive work. Since 1980, in Brazil, women's participation in productive work was increased. It does not eliminate reproductive work, instead adds one more task to women's functions, constituting a "double workday," which can be considered triple if she still studies or dares to enter institutional politics, for example.
Having always been reclusive to the home and its implications, the bond established between most women and housing is evident. And it is this relationship that is believed to be one of the reasons why the participation in social movements for housing is mostly female. Therefore, it is perceived that the struggle for housing starts initially from a personal sphere.
Because of this link between women and home, when they find themselves in excluded social groups and face the lack of decent housing - an urban dysfunction that is a product of capital accumulation - the need to fight for this right arises. In this context, they are the ones who organize, lead, and actively participate in social housing movements. Furthermore, housing is understood as "not only a universal and, therefore, fundamental human right, but also as an instrument for the exercise of other rights and the effective achievement of women's autonomy" (Veloso, 2017).
When approaching the political relations of the State, in this path of struggles for rights, it is understood that the instances of representation, power, and visibility are dominated by men, which results in an insufficiency of urban policies based on women's perspectives. Thus, a segregating society, created from the male point of view, is perpetuated. Therefore, their participation in the political sphere becomes even more essential, confronting the current order imposed by the State – the Man –to change this unequal reality of the city, for which they claim their right.
It is understood, therefore, that although the struggle for housing begins in the private sphere, it also represents for women the public sphere. The feminist maxim "the personal is political" – a phrase coined by activist Carol Hanisch in the late 1960s – suggests the need to understand both the public and the more private contexts to come forward with new proposals better suited to cities (Muxí Martínez, 2018). Finally, it becomes notable the struggle of women in social housing movements as an instrument that moves towards a possible dissociation from the State as "Man", which will allow the valorization of women's subjectivities to, as established by Zaida Muxí Martínez:
To re-signify the construction of our cities based on the experiences and different ways of enunciating each reality that men and women have. For this, it is essential to name the world in feminine, [...] highlighting especially, those that have as a common factor the personal experience as the first source of knowledge and information, because they are those capable of enunciating and constructing themselves from another place (Muxí Martínez 2018).
Results and Discussion
Initially, a bibliographical research was carried out, presenting and problematizing the theme addressed: women's protagonism in social movements for housing. Then, on April 6th, 2020, Poliana de Souza – mother, popular educator, resident of the Eliana Silva occupation in Belo Horizonte, national coordinator of the Movement of Struggle in Bairros, Vilas e Favelas (MLB), and member of the state directory of the Popular Unity Party (UP) in Minas Gerais – gave us an interview which not only reiterates the ideas already presented but also broadens the conception of the role of women in housing movements. The text that follows presents excerpts from the interview and analyses based on Poliana's statements. She states that there is a strong relationship established between women and the housing struggle, evidencing the essentially feminine character of this movement, since women who suffer the most from the absence of a roof over their heads, [...] with the lack of schooling for their children, with the lack of daycare, who suffer for example for not having a safe shelter [...] so the struggle for housing is a female struggle, and these women discover themselves throughout the process of building this struggle. In the beginning, they are timider, they come because they need a roof over their heads.
The women's action in the construction of this movement occurs in a growing manner. Initially, they start from the personal need for a home and, along the process, they acquire the perception that the fight for housing is, above all, linked to female empowerment, which also includes a political sphere. Thus, they start to have more active participation in the processes that make up this struggle.
For example, in reporting how the formation of the Eliana Silva urban occupation took place, in Belo Horizonte, Poliana points out that there was, at first, a division of functions, so that the security and structure commissions were assigned to men - who were the majority in the coordination - and the cleaning and cooking commissions to women. However, it was noticed that, over time, women started to occupy more functions until the coordination became a majority of women. She attributes, as one of the causes of this transformation, the abandonment of the struggle by men. Based on this account, it is possible to point out that this initial conformation of the commissions shows the sexual division of labor since women were responsible for tasks related to reproductive work.
Another relevant point is men's renunciation of the movement, which has been recurrent in the histories of the occupations since men tend to identify less with the struggle for the home. Besides, the other reason for this change in the configuration of committees and coordination occurs is the formation of new conceptions by women, who start to see themselves and assert themselves as protagonists.
"We usually say that it is training for them, [...] the fight for the roof is a female empowerment fight," adds Poliana. It is understood, therefore, that there is a process that leads these women to comprehend that, by claiming the right to housing of their own, this does not cease to be a political struggle. She starts to "see herself in a place of conquest, in a social place.".
.
Among the many difficulties encountered until this comprehension is reached, the lack of identification among the women, and what they understand to be their struggle, with the collective struggles, stands out. In this sense, Poliana states that
our work has been to show them that what they do is a feminist fight, is a women's empowerment fight [...]. In the beginning, you didn't have women wanting to go to the March 8th [International Women's Day demonstration]; today these women mobilize so that others will go because they can see themselves in the women's struggle [...]. So the fight for housing, which was a kick for her, which was the first fight that she saw herself in, became a platform for her to go in search of other things. [...] [They] start to create consciousness and join the other struggles in the city.
It is understood that this conception is primordial for the struggle for housing to go beyond the private and public spheres, definitively linking the personal to the political - spheres that in no way should have become extraneous to each other.
By including themselves in other political struggles, women find themselves in opposition (and tension) to male institutional conceptions, challenging the prevailing logic of producing the city. That occurs because the female social role, linked exclusively to the private sphere, has been historically devalued since it is considered apolitical, making them always face "capital and the State with less power than men and in conditions of extreme social and economic vulnerability." (Federici, 2017). Still, their participation allows the inauguration of a debate regarding this tension since they carry with them a subjectivity that has a great potential to enrich the way of thinking and producing cities, incorporating different perspectives that make up the inherent and necessary plurality of the urban.
It is noteworthy that the relevance of women's role in housing movements, which also stems from the imposition of the sexual division of labor, does not reflect the naturalistic ideology that reproductive functions are intrinsic to femininity but instead refuses to erase
the collective experiences, knowledge, and struggles that women have accumulated concerning reproductive labor, the history of which has been an essential part of our resistance to capitalism. Reconnecting with that history today is a crucial step, for men and women alike, both to undo the gendered architecture of our lives and to rebuild our homes and our lives as commons (Federici, 2011).
It is considered, therefore, that the struggle for housing is essentially a female struggle, a starting point that makes it possible to dissolve the boundaries established between the private and the public, the personal and the political, and that has significant potential to add diversity to the debate concerning the production of urban space.
References
Corrêa, R. L. et al. (1989). O espaço urbano. São Paulo: Editora Ática.
Federici, S. (2019a). O ponto zero da revolução: trabalho doméstico, reprodução e luta feminista. (Coletivo Sycorax, Trad.). São Paulo: Elefante.
Fundação João Pinheiro - FJP. Déficit habitacional no Brasil. Consultado em 23 de março, 2020, via the Digital Library of the Government of the State of Minas Gerais at:
http://www.bibliotecadigital.mg.gov.br/consulta/verDocumento.php?iCodigo=76871&codUsuario=0
Hirata, H. Kergoat, D. (2007). Novas configurações da divisão sexual do trabalho. Cadernos de Pesquisa, 37, (132), pp. 595-609. Doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-15742007000300005
Kapp, S. Lino, S. F. (2008). Na cozinha dos modernos. Cadernos de Arquitetura e Urbanismo, 15, (16), pp. 11-27.Available at OJS:
http://periodicos.pucminas.br/index.php/Arquiteturaeurbanismo/article/view/926
Lefebvre, H. (2016). O direito à cidade. São Paulo: Centauro. (Obra originalmente publicada em 1968)
Movimento de Luta nos Bairros, Vilas e Favelas - MLB. (2014). Morar dignamente é um direito humano! As propostas do MLB para a Reforma Urbana Consulted on March 23, 2020 at: https://www.mlbbrasil.org/formacao
Muxí Martínez, Z. (2018). Mujeres, casas y ciudades: más allá del umbral. Barcelona: dpr-barcelona.
Vianna, F. L. (2014). Mulheres na cidade: a invisibilidade e a exploração da condição da mulher no espaço urbano. (Tese de bacharelado). Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil.
Authors:
Isabel Mayumi Zerbinato, an undergraduate student in Architecture and Urbanism at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil.
Laura Melo Avelar, an undergraduate student of Architecture and Urbanism at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil.
Raquel Garcia Gonçalves, Associate Professor, Department of Urbanism, School of Architecture, UFMG, Professor of the Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism (NPGAU) at UFMG, in Belo Horizonte/MG, Brazil.