Educação da mulher da zona rural em Moçambique na Revista Tempo/MZ (1990-a 1999)

Abstract

The presented doctoral thesis, which focuses on “Education of Rural Women in Mozambique,” featured in “Revista Tempo” de Moçambique, is one of the means through which we can understand the relationship between education and class struggle, as well as between the interests of the dominant class and the subordinate class. This proposal aims to analyze how the contributors of “Revista Tempo” portrayed access to education and the image of rural women in northern Mozambique. The content published by Revista Tempo between 1990 and 1999 is highlighted, as it points to the challenges faced by rural women, given that access to education was unequal between men and women. Rural women in northern Mozambique were not only subjected to oppression regarding access to formal education, but also struggled for their integration into economic, social, political, and educational life contexts marked by contradictions and consensus. It is recurrent to observe that, in the work context, the way tasks are divided allows us to understand the structure of inequalities existing in society and the ongoing class struggle. The skills and capacities attributed to men and women are based on a stereotyped model of social organization, which tends to place women in subordinate positions. Thus, the following question is raised: how did the contributors of “Revista Tempo” portray the educational process and the image of rural women in northern Mozambique in the post-independence period? The theoretical framework underpinning this study is the historical-dialectical materialism of Marx and Engels, which, through the category of contradiction, enables an understanding of the consequences that liberalism generated in the country and that affected access to education and the construction of the image of women in northern Mozambique. This research is bibliographic and documentary in nature, analyzing “Revista Tempo” as a primary source, and is structurally organized into three (3) chapters. The first addresses the role of the press in constructing the identity of rural women in northern Mozambique; the second discusses the press in the history of education in Mozambique; and the third and final chapter examines the image of rural women in “Revista Tempo”. The thesis argues that between 1990 and 1999, “Revista Tempo” functioned as a “mirror” of the contradictions and hopes of a society in transformation. By addressing education and the construction of women’s image, the magazine contributed to public debate, but also revealed the limits imposed by patriarchal structures and persistent inequalities. Therefore, it was used as an instrument for disseminating the role of women within the capitalist frameworks of developed countries.