Women of the resistance
Madalena Barbosa
Maria Madalena Freire Avelar Barbosa
- Born
- 13 March 1942
- Died
- 21 February 2008
One of the founders of the Women’s Liberation Movement, in May 1974. She fought for divorce and for the decriminalisation of abortion and worked at the Commission on the Status of Women, whose library now bears her name.
She was one of the founders of the Women’s Liberation Movement (MLM), in May 1974.12 The movement set out “to fight for the right to equality without discrimination on the grounds of sex”.1 It was the MLM that called the feminist demonstration of 13 January 1975 in Parque Eduardo VII. That afternoon, surrounded and chased by a crowd of men, many of the women demonstrators took refuge in Madalena Barbosa’s flat, right next door; “we went to Madalena Barbosa’s place”, said Maria Antónia Palla, who was there.2
She advocated the right to divorce and the decriminalisation of abortion. She took part in setting up the Movement for Contraception and Free Abortion and, in 1979, was spokeswoman for the National Campaign for Abortion and Contraception. In the 1980s she helped create the first Portuguese feminist documentation centres, the Cooperativa Editorial de Mulheres (Women’s Publishing Cooperative) and Informação e Documentação sobre Mulheres (Information and Documentation on Women), whose collection is now in the care of UMAR — União de Mulheres Alternativa e Resposta (Women’s Union Alternative and Response). In the same decade she joined the staff of the Commission on the Status of Women, now the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG).1
She died in 2008. The following year, Lisbon City Council and the CIG created the Madalena Barbosa Prize, and the CIG library bears her name. Her press articles and the texts of her talks were collected after her death in the book Que força é essa (What Force Is That).1
From the archives
In other archives
These can only be viewed on each archive’s own website.
On the walks
Places
In the timeline
They crossed paths with her
Maria Teresa Horta
1937–2025
A poet and journalist, one of the “Three Marias”. The PIDE seized her “Minha Senhora de Mim” (My Lady of Myself) and three men beat her up in the street; with Maria Isabel Barreno and Maria Velho da Costa she wrote “Novas Cartas Portuguesas” (New Portuguese Letters), which took them to court — and to acquittal, on 7 May 1974.
Maria Antónia Palla
b. 1933
A pioneering journalist, the first woman in the newsroom of the “O Século” company. With Antónia de Sousa she made the series “Nome Mulher” (Name: Woman, 1974–1976) for RTP, whose report “O aborto não é um crime” (Abortion Is Not a Crime) took her to court. She was acquitted.
Maria Isabel Barreno
1939–2016
A writer and researcher, one of the “Three Marias”. Tried over “Novas Cartas Portuguesas” (New Portuguese Letters) and acquitted on 7 May 1974, she saw the greatest consequence of the case in the Constitution: equality for all, “without distinction of race, sex or religion”.
Maria Antónia Fiadeiro
1942–2023
A journalist, the daughter of Stella Piteira Santos, arrested by the PIDE in 1962 and in 1972. After 25 April, as managing editor, she gave “Modas e Bordados” a feminist line and invited Maria Lamas to be its honorary editor; in 1984 she wrote “Aborto – O Crime Está na Lei” (Abortion – The Crime Is in the Law).
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
1936–2021
An Artillery major, he drew up the operations plan for 25 April and directed the operations from the clandestine Command Post at Pontinha; he later commanded COPCON and the Lisbon Military Region.
Notes on the sources3
- The exact dates of birth (13 March 1942) and of death (21 February 2008) come only from the English Wikipedia; the CIG gives only the years.
- The date the MLM was founded: May 1974 (CIG), 7 May 1974 (Comunidade Cultura e Arte) or April 1974 (English Wikipedia).
- The year she joined the Commission on the Status of Women: 1980, according to the English Wikipedia; the CIG says only “in the 1980s”.
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Sources
- 1Mulheres pela Igualdade (biografias). CIG – Comissão para a Cidadania e a Igualdade de Género — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 2A manifestação feminista que não chegou a acontecer, 45 anos depois (Rafaela Cortez, 26/4/2020). Comunidade Cultura e Arte — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 3Madalena Barbosa. Wikipédia (inglês) — consulted on 2 October 2026