Gender equality in the Portuguese cooperatives: an exploratory analysis.

Abstract

In this paper we intend to reflect on the ways of structuring the empirical field of gender equality within cooperatives in Portugal. The existence of a deep and intimate connection between the cooperative legal regime and gender equality served as a starting point for this study. The value of equality is a structuring value of the cooperative legal regime, in strict connection with the cooperative principles, with particular emphasis on the principles on the cooperative principles of democratic member control, voluntary and open membership, education, training, and information and concern for the community.

In addition to formal equality, which results from the cooperative legislation, the statutes and the internal regulations of the cooperative, the study aims to find out if there is a real gender equality. So, from a secondary source, we analyzed the Database of the Credential Portal, made available by CASES - Cooperativa António Sérgio for the Social Economy. This secondary source represents 749 cooperatives with credential valid as of November 30, 2018. The Database results from the provision by the cooperatives themselves of information regarding the 2017 financial year as to: number of members of the Board of the General Meeting, number of members of the Board of Directors and number of members of the Supervisory Body. Nonparametric tests were performed to assess whether there are significant differences in the roles played by women and men in the Portuguese cooperatives and whether they differ by branch, region, size and seniority of the cooperative. The data presented reveal a clear hierarchization in the participation of women among the three major categories under analysis. In a decreasing way, women assume greater weight in voluntary work (65.7%), followed by paid work (58.8%) (with a sub-hierarchy among non-cooperating women) and, finally, in the bodies of administration and supervision (22.9%).