Law and Gender Equality

This chapter explains the path taken by the legal system within the scope of gender equality and gender equity, both at a national level and an international one. International declarations and conventions on gender equality and the promotion of women’s rights are presented. At a national level, there is no doubt that equality of status—mainly legal, but also social—between men and women is demanded by the Constitution of many countries and must be implemented by the ordinary legislator. It means that the assumption of gender equality as a basis for generic positive discrimination should be proposed, promoting the use of the skills of each person, man or woman, in their individuality and unique sensitivity. This is precisely the way to enhance the ideal complementarity in a modern world and to ensure the recognition of the dignity of the treatment due to women. The text explains the path taken by the Portuguese legal system within the scope of gender equality or equity and the effective irradiation of the principle of equality enshrined in the 1976 constitutional text.