title: Gender and assistance: historical and conceptual considerations regarding assistance practices and policies.
abstract: The article offers some theoretical and historical reflections on the concept of gender as it relates to the notion of assistance. Explores the political dimensions of both concepts and problematizes the dichotomy between the gender-marked realms of the political and the pre-political, a dichotomy that has greatly influenced modern political theory and thought. It examines the modern state's care practices and the transformations in assistance which occurred within the charitable and assistance organizations that took shape in parallel and in consonance with this state action.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de História, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brasil, 80060-150.
authors.forename: Ana Paula Vosne
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Martins