Eu não preciso estudar para ser empoderada ser bonita e ter dinheiro é tudo: construção social do empoderamento feminino por mulheres na cidade de Maputo, 2025

Abstract

The present dissertation, I don’t need to study to be empowered; having money is everything: Social Construction of Female Empowerment by women in the city of Maputo (2025), explores the social construction of “female empowerment”, highlighting how life stories, society, and social media influence perceptions of female empowerment. The study is based on Alfred Schutz’s phenomenological theory, situated within the Sociology of Everyday Life, and on Berger and Luckmann’s theory, according to which the social reality of female empowerment is a construction shaped by social norms and social interactions themselves. Methodologically, a qualitative approach is adopted, drawing on a literature review and semi-structured interviews. The data were interpreted using content analysis. The findings reveal that social media play a crucial role in disseminating the ideals of female empowerment, directly influencing women’s practices and perceptions. Moreover, it was observed that social media function as environments of socialization where empowerment patterns are reinforced, encouraging women to conform to such lifestyle models. Consequently, the study highlighted that although female empowerment begins from within that is, from the woman considering herself empowered through her own achievements and standards there is significant social pressure that leads individuals to seek socially accepted empowerment, which may result in the trivialization of the concept and its misunderstanding