An ultra-conservative far-right group in Portugal, called the Ethical Action Movement, is proposing the creation of a “statute for women housewives”. The argument is that “there are things that only women know how to do”.
Two of the leaders of this group – Paulo Otero and Bagão Félix – told the newspaper Expresso that the aim of the statute is to guarantee an income to women who “don’t have a professional occupation or only work part-time, because they have chosen to look after their children”. But they will have to follow a series of requirements.
The proposal, which is due to be presented to the Portuguese government next month, will not benefit men who look after the home, as has become increasingly common, especially because of same-sex marriage.
Otero has even classified homosexual relationships as a union between humans and animals. He also said he didn’t like April 25, the date on which the Carnation Revolution is commemorated, which returned democracy to Portugal. For him, the end of the Salazar dictatorship “subverted the values that correspond to the core of national identity”.
The duo of Otero and Félix are very close to former Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) of current Prime Minister Luís Montenegro. If it were up to Passos Coelho, the PSD would have already made an alliance with the ultra-right, represented by Chega, the third force in the Portuguese parliament.
This week, he presented the book “Identity and Family”, organized by Otero and Félix. The book challenges the divorce law and the law instituting same-sex marriage, as well as attacking gender identity.