Maternidade e mercado de trabalho: uma análise a partir de recortes de doramas no contexto do Secretariado Executivo Bilíngue em diálogo com realidades brasileiras

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to understand how motherhood and the labor market are portrayed in South Korean dramas, drawing parallels with the Brazilian reality and the context of the Bilingual Executive Secretariat. As specific objectives, it seeks to understand the historical process of women’s entry into the labor market and maternity protection policies in Brazil; to identify the main challenges faced by professionals in the Bilingual Executive Secretariat in balancing motherhood and career; and to analyze, through excerpts from dramas, how motherhood and women’s career trajectories are portrayed in corporate and family settings. The theoretical framework draws on authors who discuss gender, the gendered division of labor, motherhood, the double shift, female identity, cultural representation, and women’s roles in secretarial work, highlighting contributions by Beauvoir (1980), Hirata (2014), Kergoat (2009), Saffioti (1976), Hochschild (1989), Hall (1997), Chartier (1990), Nonato Júnior (2009), Carvalho (2016), Guiginski and Wajnman (2019), among others. In methodological terms, this study is qualitative and descriptive in nature, conducted through a literature review and documentary analysis of excerpts from the productions Birthcare Center, Doctor Cha, When Life Gives You Tangerines, and Queenmaker. The analysis reveals that the dramas depict conflicts related to maternal guilt, female overload, career interruption and resumption, prejudice in the workplace, the construction of female identity, and the use of motherhood as an element of institutional image. It is concluded that, although set in South Korean society, the narratives analyzed resonate with challenges faced by Brazilian women, especially those in professions characterized by demands for availability, constant professional development, and strategic performance, such as the Bilingual Executive Secretariat. Thus, the research reinforces the need for more inclusive organizational environments, policies supporting motherhood, and the recognition of women’s professional trajectories.