The “FAFO – Institute for Labor and Social Research” is an independent foundation for social sciences research, which focuses on the study of professional conditions, organizational life, society, politics, the relationship between politics and living conditions, and democracy and development. Specifically, FAFO investigates topics such as organization and collective regulation, ways of reaching the labor market, integration, and exclusion in the labor market, qualification and lifelong learning, continuous training, design of services and social benefits, European integration, and globalization. FAFO’s main concern is to highlight the perspectives of employees and those excluded from the labor market – so its participation in this project.
The project aims to investigate the reconciliation between professional, personal, and family life and the division of unpaid work between women and men, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, generated interest in the institution itself and is of the greatest relevance for the Portuguese team, which will benefit from all the knowledge and experience of this Norwegian partner. FAFO is an international research institute that works in close contact and dialogue with professionals and institutions. It has several partnerships with Norwegian and foreign entities. The present partnership with the University of Porto will be a pioneer.
Ascendi is an entity dedicated to asset management and providing toll collection and road infrastructure operation and maintenance services. It is a reference entity in the market in which it operates, holding majority stakes in 6 Portuguese concessions and promoting an integrated action in the services it provides. It is a young company, with 8 years. In terms of Human Resources (HR), it has 671 female employees, with an average age of 38 years. This is a mostly male company (64% men and 36% women). Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has adopted and invested massively in teleworking, making it an important interlocutor in understanding how the disease, and its work adjustments, affected Portuguese people and families. It is, therefore, intended to meet the objectives of this initiative, analyzing the interconnections between teleworking, the reconciliation between professional, personal and family life and the division of unpaid work between women and men, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 19. Above all, together with ASCENDI’s Human Resources, we intend to contribute to the understanding of the experience of its workers, as well as to understand whether the socio-economic consequences and financial impact of COVID-19 have increased stress and anxiety in families and, if the crisis unequally hit men and women at work and at home.
The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers – National Intersindical (CGTP-IN) is Portugal’s largest and oldest mass social organization, associating 90 Unions, 22 District Unions, and 12 Sectoral Federations. The CGTP-IN covers, through the various Unions, Federations and Unions, practically all sectors of activity and regions of the national territory.
CGTP-IN, as a trade union center for Portuguese workers, assumes its responsibilities in all areas of Portuguese society. Thus, it intervenes in the fields of vocational training, health, social security, economy, finance, culture and recreation, migration, and combating racism and xenophobia, equal opportunities between men and women in the context of work, among others. Since it is true that the issue of equal opportunities between women and men has gained new and important dynamics, especially in recent years, it is fair to highlight the growing intervention of the CGTP-IN, in particular through the creation of the Commission for Equality between Women and Men