Construindo a visibilidade da participação feminina no movimento estudantil universitário no Rio Grande do Sul entre os anos de 1977 e 1985

Abstract

Through this thesis, we sought to problematize how women were included in the left-wing university student movement in Rio Grande do Sul during the process of re-democratization in Brazil, which took place between 1977 and 1985. Our time frame is marked by the return of students to demonstrations against the civil-military dictatorship, after a period of reflux, until the year in which the dictatorial regime legally came to an end. Thus, in the first chapters of this work, we present an overview of higher education in Brazil and Rio Grande do Sul, as well as a historiographical survey about the student movement and its struggles, especially since the foundation of the National Union of Students, the highest organization of student representation. Likewise, we sought to show the development of the State Union of Students in Rio Grande do Sul to understand how the organization acted within the state. Over the remaining chapters, we focus on women's participation in public spaces, both in student and party politics. Therefore, with the methodological support of Oral History, we conducted a series of interviews with former militants of the aforementioned social movement, trying to analyze, through their testimonies, how the left-wing student movement in Rio Grande do Sul organized itself, mainly through student tendencies, which were influenced by clandestine parties and/or organizations, and what spaces were reserved for women in the representative entities. Based on this, we present an analysis of women's invisibility in spaces of power of student politics, because we believe this matter to be of extreme relevance, since it is a phenomenon that persists in various contexts, even after the re-democratization process, and it is of fundamental importance to examine this phenomenon in order to promote gender equality and the inclusion of women's voices in the public sphere. In this sense, the work can help us understand the role of women in political activism during the transition to democracy and, at the same time, highlight the necessity of gender equality and female representation in spaces of power. Furthermore, through reminiscing, the work can make a significant contribution to understanding how the university student movement was rearticulated in the state, especially after a period of reflux, and how the youth became involved in demonstrations against the dictatorial policies adopted.