The resolution of the Council of Ministers approving the Action Plans under the National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination – Portugal + Igual, for the period 2023-2026, was published today in the Official Gazette, the day it came into force.
Approved in June by the mainland government, these plans aim to combat discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sexual characteristics. The plans, three in all, are based on public consultations that took place in 2022, and the recommendations of the independent internal and external evaluations and the learning from the previous national plans were also considered, based on the conclusions of the “Study of monitoring and evaluation of the National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination,” made by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies of the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon.
One of the action plans, that of preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, provides for a specific support programme for children and young people in cases of homicide.
The plan for gender equality includes inter alia, a pilot project aimed at increasing the number of women in positions of power within private organisations. Furthermore, it aims to combat discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sexual characteristics, through the continuation of training given to civil servants and through inclusive education in schools, namely in “educational reference materials, in the training of staff, teachers and non-teachers, and in curricular and extracurricular programmes.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
