Maria de Lourdes Ruivo da Silva de Matos Pintasilgo was a Portuguese chemical engineer and politician. She was the first and to date only woman to serve as Prime Minister of Portugal, and the second woman to serve as prime minister in Western Europe, after Margaret Thatcher.
As established in the Colombian Constitution of 1991, women in Colombia have the right to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote ; to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to receive an education; to serve in the military in certain duties, but are excluded from combat arms units; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights. Women's rights in Colombia have been gradually developing since the early 20th Century.
Domestic violence in Brazil involves any type of violence or abuse by intimate partners or family members against one another. The majority of domestic violence cases in Brazil are performed by the man against their female partners. In 2015, the government released a study that showed that every seven minutes a woman was a victim of domestic violence in Brazil, over 70% of the Brazilian female population will suffer some kind of violence throughout their lifetime and 1 in every 4 women reports being a victim of psychological or physical violence. In 2017, Brazil had an estimate of 606 cases of violence and 164 cases of rape per day, over 60 thousand cases throughout the year. It is also estimated that only 10% of the cases are registered to the police. Although Brazil acknowledged that domestic violence was a problem in the 1940s, the Government has only acted upon it from 1980s onwards, with the creation of the Women Police Stations and later in 2006, with the publication of the Domestic Violence law.
The status of women in Argentina has changed significantly following the return of democracy in 1983; and they have attained a relatively high level of equality. In the Global Gender Gap Report prepared by the World Economic Forum in 2009, Argentine women ranked 24th among 134 countries studied in terms of their access to resources and opportunities relative to men. They enjoy comparable levels of education, and somewhat higher school enrollment ratios than their male counterparts. They are well integrated in the nation's cultural and intellectual life, though less so in the nation's economy. Their economic clout in relation to men is higher than in most Latin American countries, however, and numerous Argentine women hold top posts in the Argentine corporate world; among the best known are María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, former CEO and majority stakeholder of Loma Negra, the nation's largest cement manufacturer, and Ernestina Herrera de Noble, director of Grupo Clarín, the premier media group in Argentina.
Abortion laws in Portugal were liberalized on April 10, 2007, allowing an elective abortion to be provided if a woman's pregnancy has not exceeded its tenth week. There is a three-day waiting period for abortions. President Aníbal Cavaco Silva ratified the law allowing abortion, recommending nevertheless that measures should be taken to ensure abortion is the last resort. Despite the liberalization of the laws, as of a 2011 survey, many doctors were refusing to perform abortions – which they are allowed to do under a conscientious objection clause. Abortions at later stages are allowed for specific reasons, such as risk to woman's health reasons, rape and other sexual crimes, or fetal malformation; with restrictions increasing gradually at 12, 16, and 24 weeks.
Rose Marie Muraro was a Brazilian sociologist, writer, intellectual and feminist. Born nearly blind, she was the author of over 40 books and also served as publisher and director of Vozes.
Ana Montenegro was a Brazilian author, journalist, activist, editor, and poet. She was a militant communist and lived in exile for more than 15 years after the 1964 coup. She was a lawyer who advised on human rights and women's rights issues and actively fought against racism. She wrote extensively on women's issues, from their health to their socio-economic rights; the legal-cultural struggle of blacks against racism; and the struggles of urban and rural workers to gain their rights under the Constitution. After returning from exile, she was honored by her local bar association, her state, and the nation of Brazil for her human rights work. In 2005, she was one of the 1000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The origins of feminism in Brazil trace back to the 19th century. During the Empire of Brazil, some jurists attempted to legalize women's suffrage, with or without the consent of the husband. Later, the republican constitution of 1891 did not exclude women from voting, because they were not considered individuals who could have rights. That made some women request, without success, their inclusion among the voters. The 1891 constitution initially had a clause that gave women the right to vote, but it was abolished in its last version because the idea that politics was not an honorable activity for women prevailed.
Maria de Lourdes Belchior Pontes• Großes Verdienstkreuz • GCRB • Officier • GCIH • ComSE • GCIP •, was a Portuguese writer, poet, professor and diplomat who lived in Portugal, Brazil, France and the United States of America.
Clementina Carneiro de Moura (1898-1992) was a Portuguese teacher, modernist painter and promoter of traditional arts.
Ana Vicente was an Anglo-Portuguese writer with a strong Catholic faith, known for her support for feminist causes.
Maria Alzira Lemos, also known as Maria Alzira Costa de Castro Cardoso Lemos (1919–2005), was a Portuguese parliamentary deputy, socialist, feminist and women's rights activist, who assisted with the creation of the Portuguese Platform for the Rights of Women.
Regina Tavares da Silva is a Portuguese politician, feminist, historical researcher and an international expert on women's rights. She has chaired several women's organizations, both Portuguese and international. She is arguably best known for her insistence that women's equality should not be treated as a social issue but as a requirement of both democracy and human rights.
Maria Antónia Palla is a journalist, writer and feminist who was one of the first female journalists in Portugal. She played an important role in the legalization of abortion in the country, by promoting the practice in interviews and television programmes. In 2004 Palla was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of Liberty. She is the mother of António Costa, the former Prime Minister of Portugal.
Helena Pato was a mathematics teacher, a communist opponent of Portugal's Estado Novo regime and a union leader. She was one of the founders of the Women's Democratic Movement in opposition to the Estado Novo and was held as a political prisoner for 6 months. She has authored three books on her experiences at that time and has also written books on education.
The Movimento Democrático de Mulheres is a Portuguese non-governmental women's association. It was created in 1968 by groups opposed to the Estado Novo regime and continued after the overthrow of the regime in 1974.
Isabel do CarmoComL is a former founder and leader of the Portuguese terrorist organization, Brigadas Revolucionárias (BR), which took part in an armed struggle against the Portuguese government, both before and after the overthrow of the repressive Estado Novo regime. She was also the founder and leader of Partido Revolucionário do Proletariado (PRP), a political organization never formalized as a party and created to support the BR. She was held in pre-trial prison from 1978 to 1982. Carmo, a doctor and a University professor, has published extensively, on both medical and political issues.
Maria Aparecida Gonçalves is a Brazilian advertiser person, feminist activist, consultant in public politics of gender and violence against women and current Minister of Women.
Odete Isabel is a Portuguese former pharmacist and politician, who is also a leading freemason. She was a founder member of the Associação Portuguesa de Farmacêuticos Hospitalares and its president from 1993 to 2002. In 1976 she was one of the first five women, known as "The Magnificent Five", to be elected as mayors of Portuguese municipalities. Isabel was Grand Master of the Grande Loja Feminina de Portugal masonic lodge, between 2010 and 2012 and re-appointed to the position in October 2021.
Isabel Vaz is the executive chair of Luz Saúde, one of the largest healthcare companies in Portugal.
