Igreja católica, imprensa e gênero: normas de comportamento, atribuições de papéis e representações de mulheres no jornal Voz Diocesana (1947 - 1961)

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the norms of behavior attributed to women through the discourses published in Voz Diocesana, a Catholic newspaper linked to the Diocese of Campanha, located in southern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The research is situated at the intersection of the Catholic Church, the press, and the construction of femininities, with a focus on the period from 1947 to 1961. Its objective is to analyze how Catholic media contributed to the construction of an “ideal model of womanhood,” reaffirming traditional values in a context of political and social transformation in Brazil. During the 1950s, themes such as communism, divorce, contraceptive methods, and the growing involvement of women in social movements became prominent in the public sphere. In response to this shifting landscape, the Catholic Church sought to redefine its role, while also dealing with internal tensions marked by disputes among clergy with differing political orientations and worldviews. Within this context, Voz Diocesana operated as an instrument of moral and political formation in its regional network, promoting a model of femininity centered on the devout wife, the self-sacrificing mother, and the guardian of Christian morality. The study draws on theoretical and methodological frameworks such as those of Roger Chartier and Roland Barthes, in dialogue with gender studies scholars such as Joan Scott and Judith Butler. The methodology consisted of a qualitative analysis of selected editions of the newspaper, based on semiology and the construction of discursive categories, in order to interpret the representations produced and the silences maintained by Catholic media. The regional focus of the research reveals how conservative discourses about women’s roles were adapted and reinforced in interior contexts, far from major urban centers, while also offering insight into how the southern Minas Gerais ecclesiastical sector positioned itself on key social issues of the time. The analysis shows that Voz Diocesana contributed to the consolidation of a “conservative modernity,” promoting religious values as a moral solution to the challenges posed by social change. By reaffirming gender norms and rejecting emancipatory projects, the newspaper emerges as a privileged site of symbolic dispute, in which the Catholic Church sought to reshape the social imagination about women and reaffirm its normative authority amid the tensions of the second half of the twentieth century.