Wages, health care and the fight against violence: find out the parties’ proposals for women

All parties with seats in parliament are up for election on March 10 with proposals focusing on gender equality or women’s rights, which dominate issues of wages, health care and the fight against violence.

In connection with International Women’s Day, which takes place today on the eve of early legislative elections, Lusa analyzed proposals from parties with seats in parliament related to gender equality and women’s rights.

Violence against women is mentioned, directly or indirectly, in all programs that advocate increased support for victims of domestic violence (IL, Chega and PCP), for example through housing solutions (BE, PAN and Livre), the effective implementation of restraining orders all forms of violence against women (PS) and classifications of crimes of sexual harassment (AD and BE).

Most of them also cover various aspects related to gender equality, including the pay gap between men and women.

The PS proposes to ban companies with unreasonable wage differences from accessing public procurement and national and European funds, while the AD (a coalition made up of SDP, CDS-PP and PPM) refers to increased control over pay equality, which is what BE intends. extending it to all employers, creating sanctions for companies that do not correct the situation, is also defended by Livre.

PS, AD, BE, PAN and Livre also cite inequality in access to political and leadership positions, with the Socialists and Blocists agreeing to the introduction of parity for holders of sovereign bodies such as the Assembly of the Republic, the government and the courts, while the PAN defends increasing quotas in independent administrative and regulatory bodies.

On the company side, AD and Livre advocate for stronger legislation to ensure balanced representation in senior positions, while PS suggests removing barriers to women’s access to decision-making.

The only mention of gender equality in Chegi’s program envisages the creation of a State Secretariat for Family Affairs, which should absorb the powers of the Commission for Gender Equality.

Another measure, which is not included in the program but which leader Andre Ventura defended in January, would cut all funds intended to promote gender equality by more than 400 million euros in the 2024 state budget and which includes support for victims. domestic violence.

Paradoxically, the program advocates for more shelters, better funding for organizations that support victims, and the creation of support centers for victims of sexual violence.

The IL program is also silent on gender equality, but the party does state some intentions, although not very specific, to protect human rights during pregnancy and childbirth and overcome barriers to abortion.

The fight against obstetric violence is also advocated by Livre and B.E., who even propose strengthening the ban on unnecessary or non-consensual medical practices.

Abortion, a topic that was highlighted by the women’s rights campaign, is also covered in some programmes. In addition to the IL, the PS points to removing obstacles to the implementation of the law on voluntary termination of pregnancy by clearly regulating the right of medical workers to conscientious objection to military service.

It is BE who presents the most concrete proposals on this topic, proposing, for example, the end of the reflection period, the removal of the requirement for intervention by two doctors and the extension of the period from the current 10 weeks to 12 weeks.

The PEP devotes a short chapter to women’s rights, in which it proposes a range of measures to increase wages, combat precarious work, improve the balance between professional, family and personal life, and strengthen the National Health Service in a number of aspects related to the care provided to women.