Organização do trabalho, maternidade e saúde mental: O double bind na docência universitária: https://doi.org/10.5935/rpot/e27144

Rayana Santedicola Andrade; Roseli Alves  Mendonça Borges; Gabriela Ferreira do Nascimento; Michelle  Morelo Pereira; Ligia Carolina Oliveira-Silva

Work Organization, Motherhood, and Mental Health: The Double Bind in University Teaching

https://doi.org/10.5935/rpot/e27144

Authors

Rayana Santedicola Andrade Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Vitória da Conquista, Bahia (BA), Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4602-4182
Roseli Alves Mendonça Borges Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Vitória da Conquista, Bahia (BA), Brazil https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8744-3257
Gabriela Ferreira do Nascimento Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Vitória da Conquista, Bahia (BA), Brazil https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0958-3800
Michelle Morelo Pereira State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2437-2071
Ligia Carolina Oliveira-Silva Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7487-9420

Keywords:

occupational health, mental health, women faculty, higher education, motherhood

Abstract

The objective was to understand how the organization of academic work produces and sustains the double bind experienced by mothers who are professors in Brazilian higher education and its repercussions for mental health, caregiving experience, and professional trajectories. This is an exploratory qualitative study, conducted with 28 mothers who are professors from public and private institutions in the five regions of Brazil. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and subjected to content analysis, guided by the frameworks of gendered organizations, the ideal worker norm, and academic motherhood. The findings revealed three interconnected axes: institutional conditions, subjective experience, and effects on career and health. The maintenance of productivity demands associated with low institutional recognition of caregiving was related to guilt, private strategies for reconciliation, professional renunciations, and illness. It is concluded that the suffering experienced goes beyond individual overload, expressing structural contradictions between academic productivity and caregiving responsibilities.

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Published

2026-09-03

Issue

Vol. 26 No. contínuo (2026): rPOT N. contínuo/2026

Section

Empirical Research Reports

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