Women of the resistance
Olga Morais Sarmento
Maria Olga de Moraes Sarmento da Silveira
- Born
- 26 May 1881, Setúbal
- Died
- December 1948
A writer and lecturer, she edited the magazine “Sociedade Futura” (Future Society) after Ana de Castro Osório. In 1906 she founded and chaired the Feminist Section of the Portuguese Peace League and spoke on the “Feminist Problem” at the Lisbon Geographical Society.
She was born in Setúbal on 26 May 1881. She spent part of her childhood in Elvas, where she became friends with Virgínia Quaresma, and was widowed young by the death of her husband, a navy doctor.1
She edited the magazine Sociedade Futura (Future Society), created in 1902, succeeding Ana de Castro Osório.1 In 1906 she joined the Portuguese Peace League, where she founded the Feminist Section, which she chaired.1 On 18 May that year she gave a lecture at the Lisbon Geographical Society on the “Feminist Problem”.1
She lived for some thirty years in Paris, alongside Baroness Hélène de Zuylen, her companion for three decades. In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, she returned with her to Lisbon, so that Hélène, who was Jewish, could escape Nazi persecution.1 She died in December 1948.1 Since 1988, a street in Bairro de Caselas has borne her name.2
Places
They crossed paths with her
Alice Pestana
1860–1929
An educationalist and writer, she championed women’s education as a condition for a more democratic society. In 1888, commissioned by the government, she studied women’s secondary education abroad; she chaired the Portuguese Peace League.
Aurora de Castro e Gouveia
1891–1931
Described as the first Portuguese woman notary, with an office in Alcântara, she presented a paper at the First Feminist and Education Congress, in 1924, that demanded full political equality and the right to vote for Portuguese women.
Carolina Beatriz Ângelo
1878–1911
A doctor, the first Portuguese woman surgeon and a suffragist. A widow and “head of household”, she won in court the right to be registered as a voter and, on 28 May 1911, at the Clube Estefânia, became the first woman to vote in Portugal.
Virgínia Quaresma
1882–1973
Considered the first Portuguese professional woman journalist, she worked for “O Século” and “A Capital”, campaigned for divorce and for the vote, and opened the way for other women journalists, such as Maria Lamas.
Notes on the sources2
- The founding of the Feminist Section of the Portuguese Peace League and the lecture of 18 May 1906 at the Lisbon Geographical Society are documented only in Wikipedia.
- The date and place of death: December 1948, with no place, in the Wikipedia text; 17 October 1948, in Lisbon, in Wikidata. Hélène de Zuylen died in Lisbon on 17 October 1947.
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Sources
- 1Olga de Moraes Sarmento. Wikipédia (pt) — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 2Numa Rua de Caselas, Alice Pestana da causa da educação das mulheres. Toponímia de Lisboa (Câmara Municipal de Lisboa) — consulted on 2 October 2026
- 3A primeira jornalista de reportagem portuguesa numa rua de Caselas. Toponímia de Lisboa (Câmara Municipal de Lisboa) — consulted on 2 October 2026