{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T08:17:55Z","timestamp":1774599475101,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,13]],"date-time":"2021-10-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1634083200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Social Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Gender equality is a matter for debate worldwide. In 2018, Portugal enacted legislation (Decree Law no. 62\/2017) to balance gender representation on the executive boards of listed and public sector organizations with measures similar to those causing controversies in other countries. Thus, in accordance with previous research, a study took place to examine the attitudes towards the justice of this legislation and the role of merit in these attitudes. This study (n = 129 women and 94 men) deployed an experimentally manipulative type of affirmative action program to consider the role of individual perceptions of the justice of the legislation coupled with the influence of beliefs in meritocracy and participant gender. The results identify how the type of affirmative action impacted on the perceived justice, also influenced by merit, which seems normative and fundamental to evaluating the justice of such legally stipulated provisions. Nonetheless, objectively evaluating candidate merits revealed difficulties in disentangling this process from personality traits.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/socsci10100386","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,13]],"date-time":"2021-10-13T21:48:39Z","timestamp":1634161719000},"page":"386","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Does She Deserve It? The Influence of Gender and Meritocracy in Reactions to Affirmative Action Legislation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Virg\u00ednia","family":"Silva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7708-4634","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria","family":"Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS-IUL, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6806-0569","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miriam","family":"Rosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS-IUL, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2451","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1559-1816.2007.00266.x","article-title":"Diversity, Merit, Fairness, and Discrimination Beliefs as Predictors of Support for Affirmative-Action Policy Actions","volume":"37","author":"Aberson","year":"2007","journal-title":"Journal of Applied Social Psychology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1530-2415.2003.00018.x","article-title":"Beliefs about Affirmative Action and Diversity and Their Relationship to Support for Hiring Policies","volume":"3","author":"Aberson","year":"2003","journal-title":"Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.4000\/sdt.16407","article-title":"From Glass Ceiling to Inequality Regimes","volume":"51","author":"Acker","year":"2009","journal-title":"Sociologie Du Travail"},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"77","article-title":"Em Busca Da Igualdade: Perce\u00e7\u00e3o de Justi\u00e7a e Divis\u00e3o Do Trabalho Dom\u00e9stico\u2014Mudan\u00e7as e Continuidades","volume":"90","author":"Correia","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sociologia, Problemas e Praticas"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1177\/0959-353506060818","article-title":"Men as Individuals, Women as a Sexed Category: Implications of Symbolic Asymmetry for Feminist Practice and Feminist Psychology","volume":"16","author":"Oliveira","year":"2006","journal-title":"Feminism and Psychology"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Am\u00e2ncio, L\u00edgia, and Santos, Maria Helena (2021). 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