Suchergebnisse

This paper investigates formal and informal patterns of the recruitment process and the features of types of elections to shed light on what affects the share of women across levels of government (European, national, and local). A single country and party – the Portuguese Socialist Party – was analysed to rule out intervening factors, and 19 in-depth interviews were conducted. Our findings highlight the specificities of each type of election, their interactions with the recruitment process, and the relevance of informal factors. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

In this review article, we argue that the transformations related to the modernisation of Portuguese society triggered by the implementation of democracy did not fully accommodate gender equality. In particular, when we consider the areas where the most progress has been made in keeping with a broadly shared urge for modernisation, education and science; whereas women have contributed to boosting the Portuguese population's level of education, thus inverting the worst legacy of the dictatorship and developing scientific research, gender inequalities are still visible in highly qualified professions. Reviewing the results of studies from different professions, science, medicine and engineering, our analysis illustrates several factors that hinder not only the recognition of women's competences and merit at work but also their career opportunities. Some of these factors are rooted in the type of gender ideology that was central to the propaganda of the dictatorship, thereby establishing continuity with the previous regime that seems particularly difficult to break in the absence of women's voices to raise awareness on gender equality. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Research in social and political psychology contributes towards understanding the persistence of job market gender segregation prevailing in recent decades, the consequences for those involved and their reactions when having to cope with gender inequality. Within the framework of the literature on shared ideologies that justify and legitimize discrimination against women, this article focuses on Portugal and analyses the particular case of women in two highly qualified professions traditionally carried out by men – politics and medicine. Drawing on the results of quantitative and qualitative studies, our analytical approach demonstrates how while a majority of participants show awareness of the existence of gender inequality in these markedly masculine professions, meritocratic individualism and personal attributions to discrimination are the recurring explanations rather than any gender-based account. These results allow us to highlight the relevance of gender-based analysis as an ideology and furthermore to argue that ignoring this perspective not only diminishes individual responsibility for social change but also perpetuates gender asymmetries. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Portugal adopted legislative quotas in 2006, passing the so-called Parity Law which specifies that candidate lists must include a minimum representation for each sex, and neither sex can occupy more than two consecutive positions in the candidate lists. This paper follows the Gender Equality Policy in Practice (GEPP) approach and aims to deepen our understanding of the adoption and implementation process of the Parity Law in Portugal. After mapping how the law was implemented in Portugal – including a description of the tools and instruments that were set up and how the process unfolded in practice – an assessment of the policy's direct effects is carried out, contributing to the open debate on the indicators of success related to legislative quota laws. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Gender equality is a matter for debate worldwide. In 2018, Portugal enacted legislation (Decree Law no. 62/2017) to balance gender representation on the executive boards of listed and public sector organizations with measures similar to those causing controversies in other countries. Thus, in accordance with previous research, a study took place to examine the attitudes towards the justice of this legislation and the role of merit in these attitudes. This study (n = 129 women and 94 men) deployed an experimentally manipulative type of affirmative action program to consider the role of individual perceptions of the justice of the legislation coupled with the influence of beliefs in meritocracy and participant gender. The results identify how the type of affirmative action impacted on the perceived justice, also influenced by merit, which seems normative and fundamental to evaluating the justice of such legally stipulated provisions. Nonetheless, objectively evaluating candidate merits revealed difficulties in disentangling this process from personality traits. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Drawing on the conceptualization of meritocracy as an illusion, we argue that perceptions of merit and fairness of sex quotas in politics are influenced by gender ideology, specifically gender symbolical asymmetry, which equates men with individuals and the universal reference of 'person', and women with a sexed category. A total of 311 Portuguese participants read one of eight scenarios manipulating the sex and political competence of two candidates for an electoral list where only one would be selected. According to the experimental condition, either the female or the male candidate was presented as more competent or both candidates were presented as equally competent. In the control condition no such information was provided. Participants rated the merit of the selected candidate and the fairness of quotas. Results show that men take mostly only the candidates' competence information into consideration. Reflecting gender symbolic asymmetry women were also influenced by the fact that the selected candidate was male or female. Results are discussed in the light of the gender symbolic asymmetry model.

This article aims to understand the experiences of women working in the Portuguese Air Force, a traditionally male professional environment, and the perspectives of their male counterparts on the subject, considering women's minority status and symbolic gender asymmetries in the military. This study draws on 16 semi-structured interviews with Air Force personnel, evenly split by gender. Findings reveal four main themes that convey awareness that the Air Force is still a masculine world, perceptions of gender dynamics in the Air Force, barriers to equality, and strategies to address the situation. Although gender equality is formally in place in the Air Force, women continue to face obstacles that hinder their career advancement and ensure that their professional experiences differ from those of their male counterparts. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion