Tackling gender inequality in Portuguese education
Tackling gender inequality in Portuguese education
The team
Dr Maria do Mar Pereira from the Department of Sociology has been collaborating for many years with the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality.
The challenge
Despite significant advances in policy and education on gender inequality in Portugal, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia remain prevalent within informal interactions.
These include casual conversations which take place in settings such as school playgrounds, university corridors and workplace meetings. They are sometimes overlooked in research and policy, yet play a crucial role in the reproduction and transformation of inequalities.
Without further education and guidance, these interactions can undermine the formal educational initiatives implemented in recent years to promote gender equality.
Our approach
In order to address these manifestations of sexism, homophobia, and transphobia, direct and systematic engagement with the informal dimensions of life beyond the classroom is required.
Dr Pereira drew on her research on gender in education to shape policy and practice on gender sensitive education in Portugal, developing mechanisms to raise awareness of - and ultimately transform - the harmful attitudes that persist in these less visible, but highly influential, interactions.
Our Impact
Dr Pereira has translated her research for key stakeholders in the following ways:
Advising government staff on improvements to national policies
Dr Pereira was appointed as a Special Advisor to the Secretary of State and to the President of a governmental commission. She has provided input to the Secretary of State in the design of the new National Equality Strategy (2018–2030). Her research was also used by staff in the Ministry of Education and the Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality to shape the policy and curricula for the new subject of Citizenship Education.
Training professionals on how to implement these improvements
Dr Pereira created and delivered training to staff in governmental agencies, trade unions, schools, and universities. Her work is used in teacher training guidelines, manuals and courses produced by governmental and non-governmental bodies for use throughout the country, and it informed several other educational projects led by NGOs and local authorities.
Producing resources to be incorporated in the national curriculum
Dr Pereira worked with Sofia Almeida Santos (a policymaker and academic) and Ana Marta HuffstotLink opens in a new window (a feminist illustrator) to create an innovative graphic novel on gender and sexuality aimed at 13–16 year olds. It will be distributed to students in schools all over Portugal in late 2024 and added to the national secondary school curriculum.
Transforming the education landscape
Dr Pereira’s work is transforming the landscape of national and local education on gender in equality across the whole of Portugal.
Pereira has changed educational policies; transformed working practices; and created new tools and curricula to make Portuguese education more gender-sensitive and inclusive.