Constituição da República Portuguesa

Equality between women and men and non-discrimination are fundamental principles established in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic that dates from 1976. In the meantime, two revisions of these principles took place in 1997 and 2005. According to the Constitution, the Portuguese State is responsible for promoting equality between women and men (article 9, line h).

Excerpt from the fundamental rights catalogue of the Constitution Article13: Right to Equality “(…) reinforces the equality principle: Article 9 now identifies promoting equality between women and men as one of the State’s fundamental responsibilities and explicitly authorizes the adoption of positive action measures. It recognizes the right of every person, in the framework of the Rights, Liberties and Guarantees, to legal protection against all forms of discrimination (article 26-1), recognizes the right for all workers, of either sex, in the framework of their fundamental rights, to organize their work so as to reconcile their professional and family life (article 59-1-b). Its article 109 on the political participation of citizens, states that “the direct and active participation of men and women in political life constitutes the condition and the fundamental instrument to consolidate the democratic system, in line with the law promoting equality in the exercise of civic and political rights and non-discrimination on the grounds of sex in access to political posts.”