BE asks government whether it will be guided by ‘best practice standards’ on gender equality

On Thursday, BE said public communication on menstrual health issues must be respectful of all people and questioned whether the government was committed to “leading standards” in terms of equality and gender identity.

This position of the BE College is contained in a question addressed to the Minister of Youth and Modernisation, who is responsible for equality issues, as part of an “online questionnaire” with the aim of “carrying out a diagnosis of the menstrual health situation in Portugal”, in which the General Directorate of Health (DGS) “invites all people who menstruate to participate”.

On Wednesday, the PSD parliamentary group asked Health Minister Ana Paula Martins whether she had previously sanctioned the DGS initiative, which uses the expression “menstruating people” instead of “women”.

“It turns out that the change in language comes from the ideology that some defend, and not from science. It seems to me that an organization like the DGS, for its purposes and reason for being, should be the first organization to use science as the basis for its activities,” says the document, signed by Social Democratic MP Bruno Vitorino.

In the BE question, Joana Mortágua argues that at stake is a “serious issue” of communication on health and equality, which “refuses any attempt to provoke moral panic, such as that which ultra-conservative thinking tries to foment in society.”

BE also stresses that the PSD’s request for clarification from the government fits into this context, regretting that MP Bruno Vitorino started from the “incorrect assumption” that the expression used by the DGS “derives from an ideology defended by some, and not from science”, referring to “a discriminatory view of transgender and intersex people”.

The blockers also understand that the “propaganda of such a vision” by the SDP parliamentary group “raises concerns about the guarantees of the state equality policy” provided for in the Constitution and international obligations.

“When communicating publicly about menstrual health, it makes sense to use language that is both understandable to the target audience and respectful of all people,” recommends BE, for whom it would be appropriate to talk about “people who menstruate, or women, and other people who menstruate.”

BE therefore intends to find out “whether the Ministry of Youth and Modernisation recognises this ultra-conservative criticism” of the use of the World Health Organisation’s language on menstrual health issues.

He also questioned whether the government ensures that, across its various public policies, it will be “guided by the most advanced standards in terms of gender equality and gender identity,” such as those advocated by international organizations.