|
Portugal Family
The patriarchal and nuclear family traditionally served
as
the norm and the ideal in Portugal. Until the constitution
of
1976 was promulgated, the father was seen as the head of
the
family, and his wife and children were obliged to
recognize his
authority. He, in turn, was obliged by law to support and
protect
his family. While the men worked outside the home, women
were
expected to care for the children and manage household
affairs.
Marriage was considered permanent; divorce was virtually
unknown.
During the period of Salazar's rule from 1928 to 1968, the
family
was even seen as the primary institution of politics;
voting was
organized under the regime, the Estado Novo (New State),
on a
family basis--only "heads of households" (usually men but
sometimes women) could vote.
Although the nuclear and patriarchal family was the
ideal,
the cultural patterns varied considerably depending on
class
status and region. Upper- and middle-class families
corresponded
most closely to the ideal. Women remained at home tending
the
children and rarely ventured out unaccompanied, while
husbands
managed their businesses or followed their professions.
Peasant
and working-class families were marked by greater
variation. In
northern Portugal, for example, names and property were
often
passed on through the mother because of the absence abroad
of
male heads of households for long periods. The fact that
women
could inherit land in Portugal gave women in rural areas
some
independence, and many of them managed their own farms,
took
their produce to market, and did much heavy work elsewhere
seen
as suitable for men. The absence of men because of
emigration
meant that many women never married and also resulted in a
higher
rate of illegitimacy than in other Mediterranean
countries.
The slow modernization of the Portuguese economy, the
increasing employment of women outside the home, and the
emigration of many women, as well as the spread of new
ideas
about the place of women and the nature of marriage,
gradually
changed the nature of the Portuguese family, despite the
attempts
of Salazar's Estado Novo to preserve the male-dominated
nuclear
family. The Revolution of 1974 responded to these long
pent-up
social pressures.
The reforms enacted after the revolution established in
the
civil code that men and women were equals in marriage,
with the
same rights to make family decisions. Divorce became much
easier,
and the number of divorces increased from 1,552 in 1975 to
5,874
in 1980 and 9,657 in 1989. The number of separations,
formerly
the main method of ending a marriage, fell from 670 in
1975 to 70
in 1980 but climbed to 195 in 1989. Illegitimacy was no
longer to
be mentioned in official documents because it was regarded
as
discriminatory; the frequency of births out of wedlock
rose from
7.2 percent to 14.5 percent between 1975 and 1989.
Abortion under
certain conditions became legal in 1984. Maternal leave
with full
pay for ninety days was established for working mothers in
1976.
A small family allowance program was also instituted that
made
payments at the birth of a child and all through his or
her
childhood. Family planning also became an integral part of
Portugal's social welfare program; the number of children
born
per woman fell from 2.2 in 1980 to 1.7 in 1985 and 1.5 in
1988.
Relations within the family came to resemble more
closely
those of the rest of Western Europe. Children were less
respectful to their parents, dating without chaperones was
the
rule, and outings in mixed gender groups or as couples
were taken
for granted--all things that would not have happened
during much
of the Salazar era.
Still, some characteristics of Portuguese family life
remained constant. Marriage and kinship networks in
Portugal were
often based on social and political criteria as much as on
love
or natural attraction. To a degree that often surprised
outsiders, even in the early 1990s many Portuguese
marriages were
arranged. For the peasant class, considerations of land
were
often most important in determining marriage candidates.
Marriages might be arranged to consolidate property
holdings or
to tie two families together rather than result from the
affection two people might feel for one another.
Middle-class
families often had status and prestige considerations in
mind
when they married. Among the upper classes, marriage might
be for
the purposes of joining two businesses, two landholdings,
or two
political clans.
Data as of January 1993
|
