Emerging-State Feminism during the 1970s Democratic Transition in Portugal

This study aimed to investigate and interpret the creation of a government mechanism for gender equality from 1970 to 1977 and to explore the key factors and players. The study drew analytically on contributions from the political process and state feminism approaches. The study questions the government mechanism's role in relation to equality, as a function of factors proposed in the literature, e.g., structures for political opportunities and mobilization, conceiving the political results as products of actions by (and interactions between) players in a specific context. A qualitative case study was prepared, focusing on document analysis and the analysis of 53 interviews with key players. The study concludes that the Portuguese political system allowed little room for integration of the gender equality policy agenda, even during the country's democratization process.