“Female warriors”: feminine identity and occupational identity among street vendors in the city of São Paulo

Abstract

This paper is the result of a qualitative survey conducted among twenty female street vendors in the city of São Paulo. The survey sought to investigate how issues of work and gender are articulated among these women, on the basis of perspectives of identity in Social Psychology. The results showed that street commerce appears to them as an alternative to unemployment. As with others who are self-employed, these women are subject to constant underpayment, which is implicit in the long hours worked and the engagement of relatives in preparing items for sale - usually food in various forms. Food preparation exhibits continuity with the most common representations of femininity in Brazilian society. But selling food in the street entails a break from gender roles in Brazilian culture, which looks upon the street as a place for men. The consequences of class and gender oppression for these women demonstrate the need to provide incentives for them to set up cooperatives among themselves, to allow them to confront such oppression.