Women’s Participation in Health Care:

a study in health councils and conferences in Aracaju/SE/Brazil

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss women, participation and development in the practices of health care. We analyze women and the participation process into health, especially in the Health Councils and Conferences. The methodological approach is inspired in the ethnography, which involves fieldwork, writing and data analysis that consider the time spent in the research, the involvement of the researcher during the whole process, and the moments of thoughts about the implications, we have had with the experience. The main idea of this work is to study the fieldwork on participation process in the health care system. We attended the meetings of some local health councils, conducted some interviews and attended the Health Conferences in Sergipe. This work has been developed in a problematic context in which health care has suffering budget cuts, reflected in the everyday practices of people who needs the Unified Health System. The focus of this work relays on the discussion of the important role women must play to search for better health care conditions, not only in their families, but also in their neighborhood and other health care dimensions. The research has shown that women have an interesting political commitment that we seek to analyze and connect to the everyday practices of health. Despite women are minority in parties and elections, they are the majority in the participation process on health care and the quality of life in the environment.