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EACEA National Policies Platform
Portugal

Portugal

4. Social Inclusion

4.8 Current debates and reforms

Last update: 28 November 2023

Current Debates and Reforms

The Major Planning Options2019 foresees the development of a national strategy to fight against children and youth poverty.

The need of an inclusive approach between the several sectorial measures, whether in education, in health, or in employment, is expressed. In this strategy is included the reconfiguration of the family allowance, in order to allow access to resources by children and young people in situations of poverty, in order to meet the target of removing 200 thousand people from poverty until 2020.

Monitoring is also foreseen for beneficiaries of the family allowance, as well as the development of a system with early warning indicators of social precariousness situations. The goal is to promote an integrated action of the system of social protection of children and young people that are more vulnerable.

Regarding education, there are measures foreseen for access to higher education, by promoting its enlargement and democratisation, boosting social inclusion. In this context, the development of the Inclusion for Knowledge programme, a social inclusion programme targeting minorities and citizens with special needs in scientific institutions and in higher education, has to be mentioned.

In the context of protection against discrimination on grounds of racial and ethnic origin, the Law no. 93/2017 August 23, that came into force in 2017, consolidated the scattered legislation, reinforced the principle of equal treatment between persons regardless of racial or ethnic origin, color, national, ascendancy, territory of origin and strengthened the powers of the Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination (CICDR) and of the High Commission for Migration (ACM, I.P.).

On the other hand, in the agenda for equality in the labour market and in companies, the Government established the following priority areas: combat against inequalities and wage disparities; combat against occupational segregation, where girls' participation in the technology and innovation sector is particularly relevant, being also relevant at an educational level; parenting issues, aiming to increase paternity leave (father’s leave) to three weeks and encourage the sharing of the remaining leave time; conciliation of personal, family and professional life; and parity in decision-making positions, under which we can emphasise a bill that has recently been approved in the Council of Ministers, establishing minimum quotas for balanced representation between women and men in the administration and supervisory bodies of public companies in the public business sector, as well as in listed companies.