Framework

In the last decades, a significant transformation of legal professions has been its increasing feminization. If, until 1974, the judiciary and the Public Prosecution were professions forbidden to women, nowadays in a total of 1970 Portuguese judges, 1040 are women (53%). In the Public Prosecution, 49,3% of the total of magistrates are women and the percentage of female prosecutors on the basis of the career goes beyond that number (61,3%). The share of women in the judiciary and Public Prosecution is visible even at the Centre for Judicial Studies, where currently 85% of the attendees are women.

These numbers, as well as the growing role of some female magistrates, have attracted the attention of the media and of some sectors of the judiciary. However, if in other countries we can find studies on this fact, in Portugal this analysis has not yet been performed, so that interpretation on the feminisation of the judiciary leads back, mainly, to the increasing number of women in the profession still relying on speculation and often in stereotypes. This seminar aims at contributing towards these considerations, starting from the personal and professional experiences shared by some female judges and public prosecutors.

Speakers:
Maria dos Prazeres Beleza (Counsellor Judge of the Supreme Court of Justice), Francisca Van Dunem (District Chief Prosecutor of Lisbon), Teresa Féria (Judge of the Court of Appeal of Lisbon) and Maria João Barata (President Judge of the Alentejo-Litoral District)

Comments by:
Teresa Pizarro Beleza (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and Virgínia Ferreira (CES)

NOTE: Activity developed within the project 'Women as judges and Public Prosecutors in Portugal: paths, experiences and representations'