Mulheres e economia solidária em Flexeiras (AL): trabalho cooperado, geração de renda e autonomia

Abstract

The Solidarity Economy is a production model that has its bases established in social interactions, aimed at all people who wish to generate income in a cooperative and sustainable way. Its arrival in Brazil took place in the mid-1980s and expanded into various economic segments, whether rural and/or urban. Some of its principles are self-management, solidarity and sustainability. In Brazil, this form of entrepreneurship has spread rapidly among the most vulnerable strata of society. As a result of high unemployment rates, thousands of people remain outside the formal job market, in the traditional way. In this way, work in the Solidarity Economy model tries to meet the need for income generation, while also qualifying its members. In this research we dialogue with five (5) women from the interior of Alagoas, who work in the Solidarity Economy model, in a sewing group called "Women of sewing", in the municipality of Flexeiras. We established a dialogue with the participants in order to discuss the impacts of cooperative work in the production of women's autonomy. In addition, we also sought to identify the reasons that led them to form a Solidarity Economy enterprise; analyze the financial, social and personal benefits arising from the formation and development of cooperative activities, and finally, identify the challenges inherent to the collective management of a solidary enterprise. We seek to think about these experiences through collaborative dialogues, as bell hooks suggests, these dialogues are important for our purpose of collective knowledge construction. Regarding the research results, we observed that the process of women's autonomy is happening on a daily basis, the more they share experiences collectively, the more they learn, teach and welcome each other, the income generation provided by the work they do. perform, is another driving factor, which helps them in this journey towards building their autonomy.