Socio-legal agencies in household female heads living in contexts of poverty and social vulnerability

Abstract

This article presents the results of the research work titled “Agencies and strategies for socio-legal empowerment in household female heads, living in contexts of poverty and social vulnerability” in the Municipality of Manizales-Colombia. The objective was to reveal the senses that emerge in a group of household women heads who are exposed to contexts of poverty and social vulnerability. The data collected was based on the capacity of agency that they deploy facing the social and legal conditions that surround them. The hermeneutic approach was carried out through techniques and instruments such as participant observation, semi-structured interviews and narrative workshops with the participating women. For the interpretation of this information, the ACC Content Qualitative Analysis was applied, which allowed to understand the senses given by these women regarding the conditions of poverty and social vulnerability, as well as their agency capacity to transform them. The specific findings were grouped into four types: agencies associated with the culture of care; agencies associated with coexistence; agencies as legal disempowerment, and those associated with government technologies. The final results are related to social configurations which are determined by contexts of poverty and by governmental relations that restrict both the human development and well-being of these women.