The Estado Novo, a dictatorial and authoritarian political regime, began in 1933 and ended in 1974 with the so-called Carnation Revolution or April Revolution, on April 25th of that year. This regime acted seriously amid the population, often punished and persecuted by the PIDE (International and State Defense Police) and later by the DGS (General Directorate of Security), which intervened when there was any affront to the State and the Nation. Censorship was used as a system to control and restrict people’s opinions and expressions. Various artistic movements such as books, music, works of art and media, posters and printed matter that contained some kind of defamation of republican institutions or that were capable of alarming the public spirit, or that presented something of a political/social nature that affected public morals, would be censored. As a result, there was growing discontent among the majority of the population, including women who would play an important role in bringing about change.
Before April 25, 1974, there were several things that were partially or completely closed to women. Unlike today, few women reached higher education. They couldn’t pursue a career as diplomats or enter the judiciary, and they didn’t have the right to vote. If they were already married, they could not leave the country, have a bank account, or manage property or companies (even if they were their own) without their husband’s permission. Women who worked as labourers worked the equivalent of 12 hours and had no right to maternity or maternity leave. Unpunished sexual harassment was unpunished and they earned half the salary of men, with housework being their responsibility.
Over the years there have been some people, particularly women, who have stood out in the fight for a freer society. One of these people was Catarina Eufémia, a farm servant who would have been forgotten if it hadn’t been for her terrible death fighting against the regime. On May 19, 1954, in Baleizão, a parish in the municipality of Beja, Catarina and 14 other women, following a strike for better wages, went to the estate where they worked. Catarina, who is pregnant and carrying her eight-month-old son, speaks to the lieutenant of the National Republican Guard who is surrounding the estate, saying that she wants bread for her children, work and peace, to which the lieutenant responds with three shots. After Catarina’s death, she became a symbol and example of resistance in the Alentejo.
In short, women contributed greatly not only to the change that led to the April 25 Revolution, but also to the changes that followed that day, and we can remember their courage and strength.
