Motherhood and persistence in higher education: mother-student collectives and the production of belonging in Brazilian higher education

Abstract

In recent decades, the expansion of access to Brazilian higher education has brought historically excluded groups into universities, including women from diverse social and racial backgrounds (Heringer; Carreira, 2023). However, the democratization of access has not been accompanied by the democratization of conditions for remaining in higher education. Student mothers are among those who experience this contradiction most intensely, frequently facing a lack of adequate institutional policies, insufficient care infrastructure, and recurring forms of symbolic violence (Moura, 2024; 2026). Against this backdrop, this article investigates how mother-student collectives emerge as a response to the institutional inequalities faced by student mothers. It argues that these collectives constitute spaces of support, recognition, belonging, and knowledge about university life, operating in the face of limitations in student retention policies and the obstacles encountered by student mothers.