Social responsibility
The promotion of equality between women and men is increasingly on the agenda of organizations that assert themselves and distinguish themselves by their social responsibility orientation.
The Área Metropolitana de Lisboa, as an intermediate-level entity of the Local Public Administration, of an associative nature, is obliged to adopt codes of good conduct for preventing and combating harassment at work and to initiate disciplinary proceedings whenever it becomes aware of alleged situations of harassment at work.
In addition to supporting compliance with the regulatory and legal framework in force, AML also seeks to promote:
- The integration of a gender perspective into management policies, practices and processes, including human resources management, and work organization models;
- Optimizing decision-making processes;
- Improving the internal climate and organizational performance;
- Strengthening its external image as an entity that promotes gender equality and is socially responsible.
Gender Equality Plan (2023-2024)
In December 2022, the Lisbon Metropolitan Area approved its plan for equality between men and women and its commitment to adopting the equality plan for the 23-24 biennium.
As a local public administration body, it is bound by codes of good conduct for preventing and combating harassment at work and initiates disciplinary proceedings whenever it becomes aware of alleged situations of harassment at work.
In addition to supporting compliance with the regulatory and legal framework in force, AML also seeks to promote the integration of a gender perspective into management policies, practices and processes, including human resources management, and work organization models, the optimization of decision-making processes, the improvement of the internal climate and organizational performance and the strengthening of the external image as an entity that promotes gender equality and is socially responsible.
Equality Commission
Following the implementation of the plan for equality between men and women, the commission for equality in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area was created.
The equality commission is responsible for monitoring the implementation of AML's gender equality plan, monitoring compliance with the plan, drawing up an annual report, proposing its revision, analyzing and issuing opinions on equality issues requested by the executive committee, ensuring compliance with legislation, and receiving and dealing with complaints contrary to the principles of equality implemented at AML.
The term of office for committee members is two years.
See the addendum to the appointment order here.
Publishing e-books on gender equality
Following the implementation of the plan for equality between men and women, the Área Metropolitana de Lisboa published two e-books on the subject of gender equality: "Good practices for equality between women and men in organizations" and "Process of drawing up the plan for equality between women and men in the AML".
Authored by Sara Falcão Casaca and Susana Ramalho Marques, the e-books reflect the growing importance of the issue of gender equality on a global scale, in particular the need for women and men to share professional and family responsibilities equally.
Facilitating gender equality is therefore necessary by strengthening public policies and organizational practices that are socially responsible and promote gender equality.
Both e-books can be downloaded for free here and here
Metropolitan Meeting for Gender Equality
On October 24, 2023, the Lisbon Metropolitan Area welcomed more than 80 participants representing dozens of institutions to the "Metropolitan Meeting for Gender Equality" at its headquarters in Lisbon.
A multitude of topics related to gender equality and non-discrimination were discussed, such as pay, harassment and violence in the workplace, reconciling work, family and personal life, the threat of burnout andthe adoption of strategies to promote non-discrimination.
The meeting was also marked by the challenge that the metropolitan secretary of AML, Emanuel Costa, launched to the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, so that, together with AML, work can begin on the construction and implementation of a metropolitan council for gender equality.
In addition to reflecting on and discussing issues related to gender equality and non-discrimination, the main objective of this council would be to carry out concrete actions and measures to transform the territory.
At the opening of the proceedings, Sandra Ribeiro, president of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, also highlighted the importance of the municipalities, when she said that "one of the central axes of the strategy for equality and non-discrimination is territorialization and the recognition of the importance of the work done in this area by the municipalities, which are very important partners because they have this ability to be close to the populations of the territory".
Also at the opening of the proceedings, the metropolitan first secretary, Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, said that the fight for gender equality and non-discrimination is "a fight that goes back many decades", recalling that "we must welcome the steps that have already been taken, and the achievements that have already been made", but that "we cannot stop challenging ourselves on a daily basis to combat the gender inequalities and discrimination that persist at multiple levels".
The opening session was followed by a series of presentations by representatives of organizations working on gender equality and non-discrimination issues in Portugal, such as the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (Isabel Rosinha), the Municipalities for Equality Network (Ana Paixão), the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra (Rosa Monteiro) and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Isabel Espada).
The program also included two panels, one on municipal plans - good practices and challenges - and the other on citizenship and human rights: gender equality.
In the first panel, municipal plans from eight municipalities were presented: Abrantes (Marisa Espadinha), Almada (Ana Cláudia Ribeiro), Cascais (Ana Rodrigues Almada), Loulé (Rute Nascimento), Moita (Anabela Franqueira), Oeiras (Carla Martingo), Portalegre (Pedro Barbas) and Sesimbra (Paula Antunes).
The second panel, on citizenship and human rights: gender equality, featured representatives from the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (Sara Falcão Casaca), the Commission for Equality in Work and Employment (Carla Tavares), the Centro de Estudos para a Intervenção Social (Heloísa Perista), the União de Mulheres Alternativa e Resposta (Joana Sales), and the Laboratório Português de Ambientes de Trabalho Saudáveis (Tânia Gaspar).
At the end of the meeting, the metropolitan secretary of AML, Emanuel Costa, thanked everyone for their contribution and considered the meeting to have been very positive "in terms of promoting and sharing a very fruitful reflection between representatives of leading institutions in the field of gender equality, and in terms of disseminating the excellent work carried out by the municipalities".