Women of the Ward – On Living in the Hospital with a Chronically Ill Child and the Crossings of Class, Race, and Gender SOBRE VIVER NO HOSPITAL COM FILHO CRONICAMENTE ADOECIDO E OS ATRAVESSAMENTOS DE CLASSE, RAÇA E GÊNERO

Abstract

 This article explores the perceptions of Black mothers regarding discriminatory practices experienced in a pediatric hospital where they stay with their chronically ill children. It is a qualitative study that adopts Escrevivência (life writing as resistance) as a methodological approach, enabling a critical intersectional analysis of race, gender, class, and other forms of oppression. Participants included mothers/caregivers from a public maternal and child hospital in Rio de Janeiro. The narratives were organized and transformed into escrevivências based on thematic axes. The study found that institutional racism operates silently and persistently in care spaces, negatively affecting the mental health of these women. The findings highlight the urgent need for anti-racist educational actions and the development of practices that are more sensitive to the diversity of the population served by Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS).