Youth and Intersectionality: Occupational Projects of Middle School Students in Rafaela City

Abstract

This article presents the preliminary results of the research project: «(IM)PERFECT FUTURE. Perceptions of students of the last year of middle school on professional alternatives and public university education in the city of Rafaela», currently in progress at the National University of Rafaela. The main objective was to investigate the degree of definition of the «Professional Projects» of students close to graduating from secondary schools in Rafaela considering the variables of gender, social class and educational modality. A qualitative meth- odology was adopted, using focus groups and in-depth interviews that showed the links between the subjects and their contexts. For the analysis, the intersectional perspective was considered with the understanding that gender norms are dependent on intersections with racial,class, ethnic, sexual or regional modalities. It was found that the occupational prefigurations of the interviewees are crossed by stereotypes and gender mandates in line with the patriarchal model. At the same time, the socioeconomic level conditioned access to higher education and prefigured occupations. The most impoverished social sectors showed that time is a central resource to think about work and higher education. Finally, we found that women from impoverished social sectors were the group that suffered the most inequities, where the variables of gender and socioeconomic level were combined to restrict their possibilities in higher education and the labour market, leaving them in a situation of greater social vulnerability.