Angelina Vidal
1847–1917 · teacher
The other half of history
Women who would not be silenced
They fought for the vote and for the divorce law, wrote what the censors cut, organised when organising was a crime, were imprisoned, tried and exiled — and, all too often, were left in the margins of the books. Here they are at the centre.
Who they were
71 women, in the order they were born — from the generation that demanded the vote to the one that made the revolution.
Born before 190019
Alice Pestana
1860–1929 · writer and educationalist (pen name Caiel)
Adelaide Cabete
1867–1935 · obstetrician and gynaecologist
Maria Clara Correia Alves
1869–1948 · teacher
Maria Veleda
1871–1955 · teacher
Domitila de Carvalho
1871–1966 · first woman to attend the University of Coimbra
Ana de Castro Osório
1872–1935 · writer, pioneer of children’s literature
Maria O'Neill
1873–1932 · writer and poet
Maria Cândida Parreira
1877–1942 · lawyer
Carolina Beatriz Ângelo
1878–1911 · surgeon and gynaecologist
Sofia Quintino
1879–1964 · doctor
Olga Morais Sarmento
1881–1948 · writer and lecturer
Angélica Viana Porto
1881–1938 · philanthropist
Virgínia Quaresma
1882–1973 · first woman reporter in Portugal
Deolinda Lopes Vieira
1888–1993 · primary school teacher and nursery teacher
Aurora de Castro e Gouveia
1891–1931 · notary, with an office in Alcântara
Regina Quintanilha
1893–1967 · first Portuguese woman lawyer
Maria Lamas
1893–1983 · journalist
Maria Guardiola
1895–1987 · Mathematics teacher
Born between 1900 and 192922
Isabel Aboim Inglez
1902–1963 · teacher
Elina Guimarães
1904–1991 · jurist and writer
Maria Luísa van Zeller
1906–1983 · doctor
Manuela Porto
1908–1950 · actress
Cesina Bermudes
1908–2001 · obstetrician
Virgínia Moura
1915–1998 · civil engineer
Stella Piteira Santos
1917–2009 · feminist and anti-fascist activist
Aida Magro
1918–2011 · chemical engineer
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
1919–2004 · poet
Helena Félix
1920–1991 · actress
Cecília Supico Pinto
1921–2011 · founder and leader of the National Women’s Movement (pro-regime)
Sofia Ferreira
1922–2010 · farm worker and domestic servant
Maria Alda Nogueira
1923–1998 · teacher
Natália Correia
1923–1993 · poet
Maria Barroso
1925–2015 · actress
Alda do Espírito Santo
1926–2010 · poet
Noémia de Sousa
1926–2002 · poet
Fernanda Botelho
1926–2007 · writer
Luzia Maria Martins
1927–2000 · stage director and playwright
Albina Fernandes
1928–1970 · fighter in the French Resistance
Margarida Tengarrinha
1928–2023 · visual artist
Maria Teresa Cárcomo Lobo
1929–2018 · jurist
Born between 1930 and 194926
Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo
1930–2004 · chemical engineer
Arajaryr Campos
1930–1965 · Humberto Delgado’s secretary
Maria Antónia Palla
b. 1933 · journalist
Maria Lourença Cabecinha
1933–2022 · farm worker
Celeste Caeiro
1933–2024 · restaurant worker
Conceição Matos
b. 1936 · factory worker
Glória de Matos
1936–2025 · actress
Maria da Conceição Moita
1937–2021 · nursery-school teacher
Maria Teresa Horta
1937–2025 · poet
Simone de Oliveira
b. 1938 · singer and actress
Maria Velho da Costa
1938–2020 · writer
Helena Pato
b. 1939 · teacher
Maria Isabel Barreno
1939–2016 · writer
Isabel do Carmo
b. 1940 · doctor
Luísa Tito de Morais
b. 1942 · activist in the secondary-school movement
Madalena Barbosa
1942–2008 · feminist
Maria Antónia Fiadeiro
1942–2023 · journalist
Teresa Paula Brito
1944–2003 · singer
Ana Maria Teodósio
b. 1945 · singer and songwriter
Helena Neves
b. 1945 · journalist
Ermelinda Duarte
b. 1946 · actress
Helena Cabeçadas
b. 1947 · activist in the secondary-school students’ association movement
Helena Roseta
b. 1947 · architect
Luísa Basto
b. 1947 · singer
Diana Andringa
b. 1947 · medical student
Maria Machado
b. 1949 · underground PCP activist
Born in 1950 or later2
Maria José Morgado
b. 1951 · law student
Aurora Rodrigues
b. 1952 · estudante de Direito
No date of birth in the sources2
Clarisse Guerra
announcer of the MFA’s 14:30 communiqué (25 April 1974)
Maria do Amparo
singer and songwriter
Dates
From the first vote cast by a woman in Portugal to the laws that, even in democracy, had yet to be written. Open each period.
The First Republic1900–192636
- 1894
- 1905
- 1906
- 1907
- 1908
- 1909
- 1910
5 October 1910
Proclamation of the Republic in Lisbon 26 October 1910
League assembly approves the feminist list of demands3 November 1910
Provisional Government decrees the Divorce Law- 1911
12 May 1911
Feminist Propaganda Association founded3 October 1911
Death of Carolina Beatriz Ângelo- 1912
- 1913
3 July 1913
Electoral Code reserves the vote for men 14 November 1913
Regina Quintanilha, the first woman to practise law in Portugal- 1914
24 April 1914
Founding of the National Council of Portuguese Women - 1915
August 1915
Strike by the Ramiro Leão & C.ª seamstresses - 1916
27 March 1916
Creation of the Crusade of Portuguese Women - 1917
1 August 1917
Death of Angelina Vidal- 1918
- 1919
- 1924
4–9 May 1924
First Feminist and Education Congress 17 October 1924
Lisbon names a street after Angelina Vidal
The Military Dictatorship1926–19338
- 1927
- 1928
24 June 1928
Second Feminist and Education Congress- 1930
- 1931
- 1933
The Estado Novo1933–195839
- 1933
11 April 1933
The Estado Novo Constitution comes into force - 1934
16 December 1934
The first three Portuguese women deputies are elected- 1935
10 November 1935
Establishment of the Portuguese Women’s Association for Peace- 1936
- 1938
- 1940
- 1945
8 October 1945
Founding of the Movement of Democratic Unity (MUD)31 December 1945
Electoral law excludes married women from the vote- 1946
13 December 1946
Isabel Aboim Inglez arrested by the PIDE for the first time- 1947
4–12 January 1947
Exhibition of Books Written by Women - 1948
May 1948 to April 1950
Publication of Maria Lamas’s “As Mulheres do Meu País” (The Women of My Country)- 1949
28 January 1949
Norton de Matos rally at the Voz do Operário14 October 1949 to 14 January 1950
Arrest of Cesina Bermudes, a leader of the National Democratic Women’s Movement7–24 December 1949
Arrest of Maria Lamas and members of the National Democratic Movement- 1950
18 July 1950
Maria Lamas arrested for the second time- 1951
- 1952
- 1953
20 December 1953
Maria Lamas arrested at the airport- 1954
- 1957
From Delgado to the war1958–196821
- 1958
- 1959
15 October 1959
Arrest of Maria Alda Nogueira on Avenida da Liberdade - 1961
10 November 1961
Operation Vagô: a hijacked plane and leaflets over Lisbon15 December 1961
Albina Fernandes arrested with her small children- 1962
15 February 1962
Arrest of Stella Piteira Santos26 March 1962
Declaration of “luto académico” (academic mourning)27 April 1962
Arrest of the Women of CouçoJune 1962 to 3 December 1969
Maria Lamas in exile in Paris- 1963
18 March 1963
End of the ban on nurses marrying - 1964
July 1964
Arrest of Maria Lourença Cabecinha - 1965
13 February 1965
The PIDE murders Humberto Delgado and Arajaryr Campos 21 April 1965
Arrest and torture of Conceição Matos- 1966
25 November 1966
New Civil Code keeps the husband as “head of the family”- 1967
June 1967
Arrest of Helena Pato - 1968
The Caetano years1968–197434
- 1968
31 December 1968 to 1 January 1969
Vigil for peace in the Church of São Domingos- 1969
15–17 May 1969
The Second Republican Congress of Aveiro26 May to 29 December 1969
“Zip-Zip” premieres on RTP, recorded before a live audience at the Villaret Theatre4–15 December 1969
Strike by the women workers of the Penteadora mill, in Unhais da Serra27 December 1969
Women primary school teachers no longer need permission to marry- 1970
January 1970
Arrest of Diana Andringa17–21 March 1970
Natália Correia tried at the Plenary Court over the “Antologia”2 October 1970
Suicide of Albina Fernandes- 1971
February 1971 to March 1971
Trial of Diana Andringa at the Plenary Court7 November 1971
First armed action of the Revolutionary Brigades- 1972
30–31 December 1972
The Capela do Rato vigil against the colonial war- 1973
3 May 1973
Arrest of Aurora RodriguesOctober 1973
Arrest and torture of Maria José Morgado25 October 1973
The trial of the Three Marias begins, behind closed doors6 December 1973 to 26 April 1974
Arrest of Maria da Conceição Moita- 1974
The Revolution1974–197623
- 1974
25 April 1974
Celeste Caeiro and the carnations 26–27 April 1974
Caxias is taken and the political prisoners are released7 May 1974
The “Three Marias” are acquitted15 November 1974
Electoral law enshrines universal suffrage at 18- 1975
13 January 1975
MLM feminist demonstration attacked in Parque Eduardo VII1 February 1975
The Commission on the Status of Women is created25 April 1975
The first free elections by universal suffrage27 May 1975
The new divorce law2 June 1975
Opening session of the Constituent Assembly- 1976
After 19761976–today34
- 1976
- 1977
25 November 1977
Decree-Law No. 496/77: the reform of the Civil Code- 1979
20 September 1979
Decree-Law No. 392/79: equality at work and in employment- 1980
- 1982
- 1984
24 March 1984
Law No. 3/84 on sex education and family planning - 1985
- 1986
- 1989
- 1991
- 1997
- 1998
- 1999
- 2000
27 May 2000
Domestic violence becomes a public crime - 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2011
- 2013
21 January 2013
Parliament approves the Istanbul Convention - 2017
- 2019
- 2024
15 November 2024
Celeste Caeiro, the woman of the carnations, dies - 2025
Places
See on the map
Alcântara Maritime Station
Today: A maritime station and the Almada Murals Interpretation Centre
Aljube Prison
Today: Aljube Museum – Resistance and Freedom
A Voz do Operário (The Worker’s Voice)
Today: A Voz do Operário Education and Welfare Society
Boa-Hora Court
Today: Former court, closed since 2009
Botequim
Today: Botequim bar (reopened in 2010 by new owners)
Capela do Rato
Today: Capela do Rato (Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Bonança)
Carolina Beatriz Ângelo’s surgery (Rua Nova do Almada, 84)
Today: A building with a shop on the ground floor
Caxias Fort — the political prison
Today: Caxias Prison
Church of São Domingos
Today: Church of São Domingos
Cidade Universitária Canteen
Today: Cantina Velha (Old Canteen) of the University of Lisbon
Cidade Universitária de Lisboa (University Stadium and faculties)
Today: Cidade Universitária – University of Lisbon
Clube Estefânia — São Jorge de Arroios polling station (1911)
On 28 May 1911, the São Jorge de Arroios polling station was set up here. It was there that the doctor Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, registered by order of a judge, became the first woman to vote in Portugal.
Cordoaria Nacional (Colonial Hospital and School of Tropical Medicine)
Today: Cordoaria Nacional; the building houses the Navy Historical Archive
D. Maria II National Theatre
Today: D. Maria II National Theatre
Dr Afonso Costa Republican School Centre — evening classes for women (Calçada de Arroios)
In this republican centre on Calçada de Arroios, while the monarchy still ruled, Maria Veleda set up free evening courses to teach women to read and write; in 1907, the Portuguese Group for Feminist Studies gave classes here to illiterate women.
Edifício Franjinhas — the restaurant of the carnations
Today: Edifício Franjinhas
Editorial offices of the newspaper “A Capital” (Rua do Norte, 3)
At no. 3 Rua do Norte, on the corner with Praça de Luís de Camões, were the editorial offices of “A Capital”, a republican evening daily. Virgínia Quaresma, the first woman journalist in Portugal, wrote for it and lived just opposite; in 1911, the paper told the story of Carolina Beatriz Ângelo’s fight for the vote.
Espírito Santo family home — seat of the Centre for African Studies
In 1951 the Centre for African Studies was set up in the house where the São Toméan poet Alda do Espírito Santo lived: Amílcar Cabral, Mário Pinto de Andrade, Francisco José Tenreiro and others met here to “get to know Africa”, away from the eyes of the PIDE.
Headquarters of the Portuguese Women’s Association for Peace
Headquarters of the Portuguese Women’s Association for Peace, which from 1935 to 1952 brought women together for peace and for their rights — from Maria Lamas, its president, to Stella Piteira Santos, Isabel Aboim Inglez and Maria Alda Nogueira. The Minister of the Interior dissolved it in 1952.
Headquarters of the Republican League of Portuguese Women (Rua dos Castelinhos, 6)
The Republican League of Portuguese Women — the league of Ana de Castro Osório, Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, Adelaide Cabete and Maria Veleda — was founded in 1909 on the 2nd floor of no. 6 on this street. It was the first association to bring together the defence of feminism and of the Republic.
Headquarters of the Seamstresses and Stitchers’ trade association (Rua do Benformoso)
In 1915 the Seamstresses and Stitchers’ union had its headquarters here. It was here that Adelaide Abrantes called the women workers of Ramiro Leão & C.ª, who went on strike against the dismissal of three colleagues and were dispersed by the GNR.
Home of Carolina Beatriz Ângelo and Januário Barreto (Rua do Sol ao Rato, 181)
In 1909 the doctor Carolina Beatriz Ângelo lived here with her husband, the republican doctor Januário Barreto. His funeral left from here in 1910; widowhood made her a “head of family”, the status with which, in 1911, she became the first woman to vote in Portugal.
Home of Natália Correia
Natália Correia lived on the fifth floor of no. 52 from 1953 until her death in 1993. In the 1950s and 1960s the flat hosted her salons and, in 1955, a theatre premiere behind closed doors: her translation of Sartre’s “Huis clos”.
Home of Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen lived on the first floor of no. 57 from 1951 until her death in 2004. A home with its doors open to the opposition, with one side facing the river and the other the lane of the Mónicas women’s prison.
House of the Students of the Empire (CEI)
Today: Office and residential building
House where Angelina Vidal died (Rua de São Gens, 41)
Today: A small single-storey house
Instituto Superior Técnico
Today: Instituto Superior Técnico – University of Lisbon
Last headquarters of the CNMP, closed by the police in 1947
In 1946, the National Council of Portuguese Women, chaired by Maria Lamas, moved its headquarters to this lane in Amoreiras. On 28 June 1947, the police closed it “without prior notice”, putting an end to 33 years of the association.
Liceu Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho (successor to the Liceu Maria Pia, the first girls’ secondary school)
Today: Maria Amália Vaz de Carvalho Secondary School
Lisbon Airport (Portela)
Today: Humberto Delgado Airport
Mónicas Prison
Today: The former Convent of Santa Mónica
National Council of Portuguese Women
Today: Praça dos Restauradores, 13
National Society of Fine Arts
Today: National Society of Fine Arts (Sociedade Nacional de Belas-Artes)
O Século — the newsroom of “Modas e Bordados”
Today: Palácio Lançada, Rua de O Século
Paço de São Cristóvão / Palácio Vagos — Mutual Aid Association of Commercial Employees of Lisbon
Today: São Cristóvão Clinic, run by the Mutual Aid Association of Commercial Employees of Lisbon
Palácio de Belém
Today: Palácio de Belém – Presidency of the Republic
Palácio de São Bento
Today: Assembly of the Republic
Parque Eduardo VII
Today: Parque Eduardo VII
Peniche Fortress — the political prison
Today: National Museum of Resistance and Freedom
Portuguese Society of Writers (headquarters)
The Portuguese Society of Writers was on the first floor of no. 20 on this street. In May 1965, for having given a prize to “Luuanda”, by Luandino Vieira, then a prisoner at Tarrafal, it was dissolved by the government, and its headquarters were raided and wrecked that same night.
PVDE / PIDE / DGS headquarters
Today: Residential apartment complex
Rua Angelina Vidal
In 1924 the former Caminho do Forno do Tijolo was named after Angelina Vidal, a republican propagandist, with the caption “Illustrious Lecturer and Propagandist of Social Emancipation”. She did not live here: she died in 1917 on nearby Rua de São Gens.
Rua do Carmo — Celeste Caeiro’s carnations
Today: Rua do Carmo
Santa Apolónia Station
Today: Santa Apolónia railway station
São José Hospital
Today: São José Hospital
São Luiz Theatre
Today: São Luiz Municipal Theatre
Streets of the republican feminists in the Quinta dos Condes de Carnide
Today: Rua Adelaide Cabete, Rua Ana de Castro Osório and Rua Maria Veleda
Streets of the women pioneers in Bairro de Caselas
Today: Rua Carolina Ângelo, Rua Virgínia Quaresma, Rua Aurora de Castro, Rua Alice Pestana, Rua Olga Morais Sarmento and others
The “A Padaria do Povo” cooperative (the People’s Bakery)
Today: Cooperative, bar and cultural space
Tropical Botanical Garden (formerly the Colonial Garden)
Today: Tropical Botanical Garden — National Museum of Natural History and Science (University of Lisbon)
Vasco Santana Theatre (former Feira Popular funfair)
Today: Building works for the EntreCampos development, on the site of the former Feira Popular
Villaret Theatre
Today: Villaret Theatre
Walks
Women
Graça, the women’s hill
Seamstresses on strike, a republican propagandist, a women’s prison, a bar and a poet — Graça as they tell it
- Distance
- 1.7 km
- Duration
- 1 h 15 min
- Stops
- 6 stops
Other walks that pass by them
- The first day2.3 km · 4 women at the stops
- The Estado Novo, explained4.6 km · 18 women at the stops
- The figures of April3.5 km · 23 women at the stops
- The machinery of repression2.3 km · 13 women at the stops
- From the Padrão to the quay4.5 km · 3 women at the stops
- Carolina’s vote4.1 km · 17 women at the stops
- From Rato to the Park3.8 km · 15 women at the stops
- Forbidden words3.5 km · 11 women at the stops
- Students against the dictatorshipby metro and train · 9 women at the stops
- The days of freedomby metro and train · 29 women at the stops
- A seagull was flying5.5 km · 11 women at the stops