The Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights (PpDM - Plataforma portuguesa para os Direitos das Mulheres) presents the European project of the Council of Europe’s initiative Mobilize Against Sexism! (Mobiliza-te Contra o Sexismo!) which aims to disseminate the Council of Europe’s Recommendation Rec (2019)1 on preventing and combating sexism, through the campaign "Sexism: See it, Name it, Stop it!"

Mobilise Against Sexism! is taking place in nine European countries. It is promoted by the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) and, in Portugal, it is dynamised through a partnership between the organisation that coordinates, in our country, the activities of EWL - the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights - and the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG) public body, dependent on the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, responsible for public policies for equality between women and men, and also on the Portuguese Institute for Youth and Sport (IPDJ).

The historical recommendation of the Council of Europe established the first international legal definition of sexism: "any attitude, gesture, representation (...), practice or behaviour based on the assumption that a person or group of people is inferior on the grounds of sex, occurring in the public or private sphere". It also establishes the relationship between acts of "ordinary sexism" and the continuum of violence against women and girls, containing a set of recommendations addressed to governments: to disseminate the Recommendation to public and private organisations; to prevent and combat sexism and its manifestations, both in the public and private domain; to urge different social actors to implement legislation and promote appropriate policies and programmes to that end and to monitor progress in the implementation of the Recommendation.

In this context, Mobilise Against Sexism! aims to promote, in Portugal, the knowledge and the operationalization of that Recommendation, promoting public debate on the prevalence of sexism and its current manifestations, and on the possible responses to this phenomenon, in each context and in each organization. In Portugal, in addition to the dissemination of the Council of Europe’s Campaign against Sexism, the project also includes the holding of webinars and virtual round tables around the Council of Europe Recommendation, its dissemination to parliamentary and government groups, and the elaboration of a set of recommendations on its implementation, namely in the context of the National Action Plan and/or legislation to be implemented to that effect.

Know more about the project and data in Portugal!