Abstract

GUIZARDI, Menara; GONZALVEZ TORRALBO, Herminia  and  LOPEZ CONTRERAS, Eleonora. Dialectics of Opportunity. Female Social Protection, Care and Mobility Strategies between Paraguay and Brazil. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2020, vol.65, n.240, pp.487-526.  Epub Feb 28, 2021. ISSN 0185-1918.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fcpys.2448492xe.2020.240.72607.

The article approaches the cross-border experiences of Paraguayan women in the Paraná Tri-BorderArea (TBA). We will start by discussing the study’s methodology, its sample design and the three theoretical fields that support it. Then, we will introduce the context of the TBA, describing the living conditions of Paraguayan women and their possibilities of access to social protection. Introducing ethnographic results, we then define the profiles of the women identified, focusing on those exposed to deeper vulnerabilities. We recover their narratives to show how the productive/reproductive overload drives them toward border displacements. Furthermore, we will show how the construction of community care networks, together with the search for social protection, constitute female transborder agencies. We conclude by explaining how the border constitutes dialectical opportunities for women.

Keywords : mobilities; gender; borders; care; transnational social protection.