“Women face a higher risk of poverty compared to men (17.6% versus 15.4%), affecting approximately 980,000 women, due to generally low wages and benefits linked to them,” according to data released for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, observed on Friday.
Without the public Social Security system, the CIMH notes that “the number of people living in poverty would rise to nearly 4.3 million (40.3% of the total),” based on 2023 data from the National Statistics Institute’s (INE) Survey on Income and Living Conditions, increasing the percentage of women living in poverty to 42.5%, totaling 2.361 million.
The commission highlights that despite social transfers (mainly from Social Security), the risk of poverty was “particularly high” among unemployed female workers, reaching 42.7% in 2023, due to “low coverage and low value of unemployment benefits,” a figure higher than previous years.
Without social transfers, this percentage would rise to 64.1%.
Among retired women, the risk of poverty stands at 21.2%, the highest since 2007, while among working women, it is 8.3%, totaling 206,000 women. The CIMH emphasizes that this shows “there are women who become impoverished while working due to the very low wages they earn.”
Without social transfers, the poverty risk would reach 87.7% among retired women and 17.6% among working women, it adds.
Combining the risk of poverty with two other indicators — severe material deprivation and very low work intensity per capita — the Commission for Equality for Women and Men points out that in 2024, approximately 2.1 million people residing in Portugal were in a situation of poverty or social exclusion even after social transfers.
“More than politically correct speeches by those in power, we need policies that address day-to-day problems,” asserts the CIMH, considering that the proposed State Budget for 2026 (OE2026) and the legislative draft Portugal XXI (for labor law revision) “confirm the diagnosis but deny solutions to the problem, which anticipates its future worsening.”
For the CIMH of the CGTP, combating poverty, particularly among women, involves a general increase in wages and pensions, ensuring stable employment, promoting collective bargaining as “an essential tool to ensure a better and more equitable distribution of wealth,” shared responsibility in domestic and care work, reducing housing cost burdens, and defending the physical and mental health of women.
