Desafios e possibilidades da permanência das mães-estudantes no curso de Pedagogia da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia

Abstract

This paper discusses the possibilities and challenges faced by student mothers in undergraduate studies, focusing on the Pedagogy course at the Federal University of Uberlândia, analyzing how motherhood impacts their academic trajectories. The qualitative research is based on a literature review and field research, including semi-structured interviews with seven student mothers enrolled in the course. Data analysis was conducted using the reduction, presentation, and verification stages proposed by Gil (2008), organizing the results into thematic categories. The theoretical framework reveals that, although women's access to higher education represents historical progress, structural inequalities associated with the sexual division of labor persist. The analysis of the Pedagogy course and institutional policies demonstrates the existence of legal mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the continuity of studies during pregnancy and postpartum. However, both the literature and the participants' accounts indicate that such measures are insufficient to meet the physical, social, and emotional demands of motherhood. The data collected were organized into four thematic axes: difficulties in undergraduate studies, relationships with peers, relationships with professors, and the impact of motherhood on undergraduate studies. The results indicate that the main difficulties are related to the overload of responsibilities, time management, the rigidity of academic structures, and physical and emotional exhaustion. The lack of flexibility and ineffective institutional support policies contribute to feelings of inadequacy, guilt, and, in some cases, to dropping out of school. It is concluded that motherhood profoundly permeates the university experience, representing a factor that restructures the academic identity of women and highlighting the limitations of an institutional model still based on the logic of full availability. Thus, the retention of student-mothers in undergraduate studies depends not only on formal access, but also on the construction of material, institutional, and real conditions that recognize motherhood as a legitimate part of the academic journey.