"A injustice in any place is a threat to the justice in all place". Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963).

According to Torrejón (2011) for obtain a society more equality, now It isn´t enough with the simple expression that you are agree with the democratic value to the equality, but It´s necessary to pass the action to a decisive way, as individual form as in group.

Literature and research already called the attention to the disadvantage situation of women in different contexts of society. This way, Professor Sue Yeandle, leader of the research programme at Sheffield Hallam University explains, "This far reaching study shows that women from every walk of life are finding that their workplaces do not meet their needs and that their gender affects the jobs that are available to them and their prospects for the future” There are numerous authors that spoke about this topic as Nyla R. Branscornbe(1998), Graciela Morgade(1997), Ramón Vargas-Machuca Ortega(1996), JB Rosener(2011) ,Adriana Marrero(2010) …

The advance of equality will only be possible if full access to citizenship and participation is guaranteed for all – men and women – in all dimensions of life. This concern, which is above all a political one, demands policies and practices to change in different levels of society: public administration, education, health, etc. Therefore, the effort to promote equality needs to be a concern of the democratic system in itself.

These reflections came from a comparative study conducted in Portugal and Spain in the scope of a PhD. The study aims to compare policies and practices in what concern gender equality developed by both countries. In order to accomplish that we have chosen two organizations – CIG (Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality)  and IMEX (Women's Institute of Extremadura) that reflect European and National policies and specific trends in what concern intervention. There is a belief that through this comparative study we will be able to analyse deeply strategies to overcome gender hierarchy, a concept socially constructed (Coot, 1987). Some questions are underlying this study: how different societies are working in order to improve equality of opportunities? How different social structures are networking at national and local level? How European orientations are being translated at national and local level? What type of innovative practices are taking place in Portugal and Spain in what concerns gender equality of opportunities and social justice?

This poster will be focus specifically on analysis of both organizations comparing its structure, policies and action. 

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