An experience of women’s empowerment in Primary Health Care

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of a training practice developed in a Health Center located in the North Sanitary District of Belo Horizonte. The central aim of the practice was to promote initiatives of mobilization and political discussions among women who live in the region covered by the health center. During the meetings, discussions were produced through the background of gender relations, approaching themes as violence, women’s health, work division, women’s valorization, construction of social roles, and human rights. The practice was named as “Women’s Movement” by the women involved in one of the first meetings. The work is inspired in participant methodologies and in the comprehension of group as a device, especially when it comes to the co-construction of actions in the health field. The concepts of gender and empowerment were guidelines of the reflections and actions. The meetings took place every other week, with average duration of one and a half hour each. There were approximately 12 women in each meeting between users, psychology students, and health communitarian agents. As an articulation attempt, in two meetings a Municipal Health Counselor was present, discussing women’s role in social mobilization. The practice has been revealed as an important device of integrations, since it puts closer and produces accountability between university, health services, and community in the construction of health actions.