Raquel Matos, Director of the Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP-UCP), was recently in Romania to present the results of a study on gender inequalities in the Portuguese prison system.
The paper, 'Gender and Carceral Policies in Portugal', showed that although the recommendations of the gender equality movements have been incorporated into some prison policies, there is still a long way to go before they are effectively implemented.
For example, regarding the inclusion of the LGBTQI+ population in the Portuguese prison system, “when we interviewed professionals in leading positions in prisons, we found that guidelines have been created by the General Directorate of Prisons, but they're not yet shared by all and practices are not consolidated,” says the researcher from the Research Centre for Human Development (CEDH).
Parenting and gender bias
The study also highlights a significant gender bias when it comes to parenting issues in the prison system. It is in women's prisons that the issue of parenting is at the centre of prison 'treatment', perpetuating the association of parenting with female figures.
“Overall, the study concludes that there is still a strong gender bias in the Portuguese prison system. Women are associated with family and parenthood, while men are much less so. We found that the reintegration opportunities offered to women prisoners are very much framed in this perspective,” summarises the director of the FEP-UCP.
The research is still in the data collection phase, but Raquel Matos believes that the results of the study could contribute to some reforms of the Portuguese prison system, offering suggestions for changing some of the current practices.
The work was presented at the 24th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, held at the University of Bucharest (Romania), and was developed in collaboration with Mónica Soares, from the University of Coimbra, Catarina Ribeiro, a CEDH member, and Mariana Castro, FEP-UCP trainee and Faculty alumna.
Participating in the event allowed them to exchange ideas with other researchers. Raquel Matos even met with an international group that is preparing a book on the subject, with contributions from different countries, to be published in 2025.
Raquel Matos' research career
Since the completion of her doctorate in 2007, Raquel Matos has been devoting her career to the study of the life courses of female prisoners. The researcher identified profound gender inequalities both in the origins of the behaviours that lead women to prison and in the prison system itself. This motivated her to investigate whether gender equality movements had succeeded in changing prison policies and practices in Portugal.
