Are we (de) united? Gossip and moral values from an ethnography of women’s participation in the program « Ellas Hacen »

Abstract

This article discusses the way in which women beneficiaries of the “Ellas Hacen” devolop their everyday practises within the framework of the Program. My analysis uses a line of studies on popular sectors’s political practices and the conceptualization of collective practices as a way of “doing together” (Fernández Álvarez, 2016). The analysis reveals that the obligation to attend to activities proposed by a state program is experienced collectively by those who are considered its "beneficiaries". Through an ethnographic approach, this paper exposes discussions about "participation" and the “gossip”´s circulation. It is proposed that unity as a moral value operates as a key aspect in the making of collective political practices in these spaces.