Latin american feminism: the theoretical-conceptual legacy of Heleieth Saffioti

o legado teórico-conceitual de Heleieth Saffioti

Abstract

Heleieth Saffioti was a pioneer in Brazilian discussions about women’s realities under capitalism, articulating what would later be the category “gender” to the category of social class. Between 1960 and 1980, she stipulated the broad presence of the overlap between class, gender and race/ethnicity, developing the idea of a knot that ties those contradictions. She identified a duplicity in women’s condition under class society, sustained by the underestimation of abilities considered feminine and the marginalized insertion of women in the labor market. This article proposes a descriptive discussion of Saffioti’s work, conducting a bibliographic review, which elucidates the diversity of issues addressed by the author. It concludes that she produced an important historicization and sociological analysis of women’s situations in Brazil, as well as useful tools of analysis, later complexified by other scholars. Therefore, Saffioti’s repertoire is a useful one for the reincorporation of class as a central category for feminist studies