Participação cívica e política de mulheres consumidoras de substâncias psicoativas

: facilitadores e obstáculos

Abstract

Usually, the civic and political participation of women is discussed with reference to the experiences of socially integrated women, who had access to places of leadership or civic and community mobilization in the public sphere. However, there are no studies that focus on the civic and political participation of women who consume psychoactive substances in contexts of marginalization and social vulnerability. This study seeks to respond to this lack of scientific evidence and, in particular, aims to identify the experiences and facilitating factors and obstacles to the civic and political participation of these women. To this end, semi-structured interviews were carried out on the experiences of civic and political participation throughout the lives of 10 women who uses drugs in contexts of social vulnerability. Data processing was performed using a qualitative data analysis software (NVivo). The results show that, throughout these women's life pathways, at various stages of their lives (childhood, adolescence and youth and adulthood), factors such as the family context in which they grew up, the level of education and socioeconomic status have an impact on their civic and political participation. Currently, the discrimination, violence and marginalization they face because they are women drug users with a precarious socioeconomic profile and extreme poverty, proves to be the biggest obstacle to their participation, as it limits access to resources and basic rights. Even so, it is notable how some participants have self-organized into civic movements to become visible, have a voice and advocate for their rights.

Date of Award	6 Mar 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cristiana Vale Pires (Supervisor) & Raquel Matos (Co-Supervisor)