Scholarly record
GENDERED SURVIVAL STRATEGIES OF PORTUGUESE HOMELESS ADULTS: COMMUNALITIES AND SINGULARITIES OF WOMEN AND MEN EXPERIENCES
Abstract
Included as a vital component of an in depth research project, concerning homelessness and life trajectories of homeless people, this study is devoted to the identification of communalities and singularities between daily life and survival strategies of homeless men and women. To accomplish this major goal, the researcher participated in outreach interventions (6 teams, nextgreater400) and performed 96 in depth interviews with (formerly) homeless people and professionals [38 homeless, 11 formerly homeless, and 47 professionals (27 in the context of street intervention)]. The first two groups' discourses comprised the following domains: life path, namely through the identification of key moments and circumstances associated to the emergence/maintenance of homelessness, daily routines, expectation and major needs, concerns/fears and survival strategies. The participants in the third group presented their perspectives on the major communalities and singularities in life trajectories of homeless people and described/assessed the intervention developed. The comparative analysis of the narratives of these three groups and the observation notes exposed major differences in the experiences and perspectives of male and female homeless people. Concerning the more prominent similarities, for both (men and women) homelessness is experienced as a complex, nonlinear and dynamic process. Nevertheless, despite the likeness of trajectories, there are considerable dissimilarities on the typology, number, duration and significance of factors that male and female associate to daily life and survival during the phases of emergence, maintenance and reinsertion in community. Women frequently stand out as highly important factors, conflicts in the network of relationships (proximity and extended), the existence of dependencies [sometimes by the (a) partner (a)] and unemployment. Men give preponderance to unemployment, which is associated to the accumulation of debt and the loss of housing. They also mention violent breaking of ties with the nuclear family. For each one of those fields participants gave specific examples and presented their most intense difficulties and fears. In the last part of the paper the author proceeds to a brief presentation of policies and intervention implications from the data analyzed. The specificities inherent to intervention in this problematic are discussed, particularly regarding the need to develop flexible and interdisciplinary gender unbiased approaches, which effectively contribute to improve quality of life and well-being of homeless people.
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