Women are a minority in governments and reach power with greater technical requirements. Portugal had only 15% of women ministers in the last five decades, revealing a significant disparity in female representation in the Portuguese executive.
The study analyzed indicates that women still face disproportionate barriers to reaching positions of power. One of these barriers is related to the requirement for technical credentials, which weighs more heavily on women than on men when accessing government positions.
This reality is not limited to Portugal alone, suggesting that the under-representation of women in executive politics is a phenomenon with structural roots that repeat in different contexts.
The article suggests that, for women, possessing technical or specialized academic training appears to be a stricter requirement than for their male counterparts, functioning as an additional filter in access to power.
