Women in Positions of Power in Portugal

Contradictory Positions and Discourses

Bibliographic Data

ID6408961
AuthorsMaria Da Conceição De Oliveira Carvalho Nogueira (0000-0002-9152-754X, University of Minho, corresponding author), M Conceição Nogueira
Year2009
Volume30
Issue1
Pages70-88
Publication date2009-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWomen & Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0195-7732 • E-ISSN: 1540-9473
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15544770802367804
OpenAlexW2055004323
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited4

This work discusses the discourses some women in positions of leadership in Portugal used to describe their modes of life and professional paths, and argues that women are in contradictory positions because they occupy positions which are still traditionally associated with men, either in practical terms or in terms of stereotyped expectations. Even though Portugal underwent a sudden process of democratization and defined an egalitarian legislation for both men and women approximately 30 years ago, there are still many inequalities associated with gender. First, this article presents the political and historical context of the country and succinctly explains the general contemporary status of women in Portugal. The second part provides a discourse analysis of the interviews carried out with women in managerial and leadership positions in Portugal, revealing two common discourses about women managers. One exalts personal female competencies and assumes non‐discrimination and the other takes discrimination as a given and presents the possibility that personal competencies are acquired through confrontations with discrimination. The article concludes with the theoretical and political consequences of using these two types of discourse: they affect not only the women who were interviewed, but also society in general and Portuguese feminist activism in particular. Keywords: womenleadershipPortugaldiscourse analysisdemocraticization Notes 1. At dawn on April 25, a lady who was carrying carnations to decorate the restaurant where she worked started offering them to the soldiers that were passing by; they put them in their rifles. As soon as the rest of the population woke up and was aware of what was going on outside, they gathered in the streets carrying carnations as well. The image of a soldier with a carnation in his riffle standing on an armored vehicle became the symbol of our revolution. 2. Nowadays, among all European countries, Portugal presents the biggest gap between the profits of rich and poor people. 3. The law of parity was only approved in March 2006 (August 21, 2006). It established that the lists of candidatures for the Assembly of the Republic, for the European Parliament and for local autarchies should promote equality between men and women. It is henceforth understood that equality implies a minimum representation of 33.3 percent of each of the sexes on those lists. 4. This situation is not at all remarkable if we consider the centralization of, among others, political power in the capital

Physics · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Educational Practices and Policies · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Gender and Feminist Studies · Gender Studies

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