Women in Portugal

The women's movement is considered to have started with the establishment of the Conselho Nacional das Mulheres Portuguesas, which was founded in 1914 during the First Portuguese Republic.

The electoral rule of the Portuguese Republic stated the right to vote for "Portuguese citizens over 21 years of age who could read and write and were heads of families" without specifying gender. Carolina Beatriz Ângelo took advantage of the ambiguity of the law and used it to exercise her vote. She was a head of her family with a child and knew how to read and write, so she became the first woman to vote in Portugal. The Republican Regime did not want women to vote and swiftly changed the law. In 1913, the laws were changed to include gender and to specifically deny women the right to vote. The Afonso Costa’s Electoral Code of 1913 sealed off the loophole that had allowed Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, to vote in 1911. Portuguese women would have to wait 1931 when under Salazar were given the right to vote in Portugal provided they had completed secondary education.[5]

Maria Teresa Cárcomo Lobo politician and jurist, became the first woman to hold office in Portugal

During the Estado Novo, an authoritarian political regime which was in place in Portugal from 1933 to 1974, women's rights were still restricted.

In the 1933 Portuguese constitutional referendum women were allowed to vote for the first time in Portugal -The women's right to vote had not been obtained during the First Republic, despite feminist claims – however secondary education was a requirement for their suffrage, while men needed only to be able to read and write.[6]

The right for women to vote was later broadened twice under the Estado Novo. The first time was in 1946 and the second time in 1968 under Marcelo Caetano, law 2137 proclaimed the equality of men and women for electoral purposes. The 1968 electoral law did not make any distinction between men and women.[7][8]

It was also under the Estado Novo that Maria Teresa Cárcomo Lobo politician and jurist, became the first woman to hold office in Portugal.[9] [10] She was also deputy of the Assembleia Nacional of the First Portuguese Republic, during the XI legislature.

As a country where the predominant religion is Roman Catholicism, Portugal has traditionally been conservative with regards to family life. Divorce was legalized in 1975. Adultery was decriminalized in 1982.[11] Divorce laws were overhauled in October 2008, when a new divorce law liberalized the process (see Divorce law in Portugal). In the 21st century, family dynamics have become more liberal, with cohabitation growing in popularity, and the link between fertility and marriage decreasing. In 2019, 56.8% of births were to unmarried women.[12] Like most Western countries, Portugal has to deal with low fertility levels: the country has experienced a sub-replacement fertility rate since the 1980s.[13]

The age at first marriage in 2012 was 29.9 years for women and 31.4 years for men.[14] Cohabitants have rights under laws dealing with de facto unions in Portugal.

Abortion laws in Portugal were liberalized on April 10, 2007, after the 2007 Portuguese abortion referendum. Abortion can be performed on-demand during the first ten weeks of pregnancy, and at later stages only for specific reasons (rape, risk of birth defects, risk to woman's health). However, obtaining a legal abortion is often difficult in practice, because many doctors refuse to perform abortions (which they are allowed to do under a conscientious objection clause) as Portugal remains a country where the Catholic tradition has a significant influence.[15]

The maternal mortality rate in Portugal is 8.00 deaths/100,000 live births (as of 2010). This is low by global standards, but is still higher than many other Western countries.[16] Portugal's HIV/AIDS rate is, at 0.6% of adults (aged 15–49), one of the highest in Europe.[17] Since 2001, immigrants in Portugal are entitled to free health care, including free care during pregnancy and postnatal period, as well as use of family planning facilities.

The literacy rate is still lower for women compared to men: the literacy rate is 94% for females (aged 15 or older, data from 2011), while for males it is 97%.[18] In the 19th century it was much worse. The first women in Portugal concerned with women's subordinate status and in improving their educational opportunities included Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcelos, Maria Carvalho, Alice Pestana, Alice Moderno, Antónia Pusich and Guiomar Torrezão.[19] Francisca Wood is credited with creating the first feminist newspaper in Portugal and she realised that many women were not interested in equality but she blamed their lack of ambition on the unavailability of education to women.[20]

Domestic violence is illegal in Portugal. It is specifically addressed by Article 152 of the Criminal Code of Portugal.[21] The article, which has been amended several times throughout the years, reads: "Whoever, whether in a repetitive manner or not, inflicts physical or mental maltreatment, including bodily punishments, deprivation of liberty and sexual abuses: a) On the spouse or ex-spouse; b) On a person of the same or another gender with whom the offender maintains or has maintained a union, even if without cohabitation; c) On a progenitor of a common descendant in first degree; or d) On a particularly helpless person by reason of age, disability, disease, pregnancy or economic dependency, who cohabitates with the offender; shall be punished (...)".[22] Portugal has also ratified the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.[23] Accurate data on violence against women is difficult to obtain, but according to a study published in 2008, 38% of women have experienced physical, psychological and/or sexual violence since the age of 18.[24]

Traditionally, in Portugal, as in other countries, politics was considered the domain of men. However, in recent years more women have been involved. As of 2014, there were 31.3% women in parliament.[25]

• André, Isabel Margarida (1996), "At the centre of the periphery? Women in the Portuguese labour market", in Ramón, María Dolors García; Monk, Janice (eds.), Women of the European Union: the politics of work and daily life, London New York: Routledge, pp. 138–155, ISBN 9780415118804.
• Cardoso, Ana Rute (September 1996). "Women at work and economic development: who's pushing what?". Review of Radical Political Economics. Sage. 28 (3): 1–34. doi:10.1177/048661349602800301. S2CID 155062092.
• Rubery, Jill; Tavora, Isabel (September 2013). "Female employment, labour market institutions and gender culture in Portugal". European Journal of Industrial Relations. Sage. 19 (3): 221–237. doi:10.1177/0959680113493374. S2CID 154596690.
• Tavora, Isabel (March 2012). "Understanding the high rates of employment among low-educated women in Portugal: a comparatively-oriented case study". Gender, Work and Organization. Wiley. 19 (2): 93–118. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0432.2010.00489.x.
• Tavora, Isabel (2012). "The southern European social model: familialism and the high rates of female employment in Portugal". Journal of European Social Policy. Sage. 22 (1): 63–76. doi:10.1177/0958928711425269. S2CID 154473695.
• Wall, Karin; Escobedo, Anna (2011), "Portugal and Spain: Two pathways in Southern Europe?", in Moss, Peter; Kamerman, Sheila (eds.), The politics of parental leave policies: children, parenting, gender and the labour market, Bristol: Policy, pp. 207–226, ISBN 9781847429032.

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