Category Archives : 1000.Brazil


Maria Berenice Dias (Brazil)

“I believe women are the ones who will revolutionize the world.” Maria Berenice Dias (1947) is a judge of the Court of Appeals, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Her specialty is the area of Family Law. Mother of three children, she was the first female judge in that state. Berenice is nationally […]

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Creuza Maria Oliveira (Brazil)

We, women, are responsible for changing this society. How can we live in a country that turns its back on 500.000 children and teenagers being abused?” Creuza Maria Oliveira (1957) became a domestic worker at age ten. Her first payment, which was worthless, came at 15. As thousands of Brazilian children, she increased the child […]


Zuleika Alembert (Brazil)

Today, I am aware of the fact that women will not be free until the environmental problem is solved. As long as I have a strand of life, I will dedicate it to these two causes.” Zuleika Alembert (1922) started her political militancy fighting against the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas during the Estado Novo (1937-1945), […]

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Maria José Mota (Brazil)

Peace is human rights being taken seriously. It is being able to decrease inequalities in all senses. Inequality creates a revolted atmosphere.” Zezé Motta (1944) had always been involved with art: since her childhood, in a private school, until becoming a professional in a theater course, in which she was discovered for the production of […]


Zenilda Maria de Araújo (Brazil)

The land is our mother, it needs to be managed and preserved to guarantee the survival of everyone that lives in it, not be transformed in an object of business speculation.” Considered to be the mother of the Xukuru of Ororubá, an indigenous tribe, Zenilda Maria de Araújo (1950) stimulated the rescue of the culture […]

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Therezinha de Godoy Zerbini (Brazil)

I am a free spirit. I always thought with my own head.” Therezinha Zerbini (1928) is known as “Mrs. Amnesty.” As a lawyer, she founded, organized and diffused the Feminist Movement for the Amnesty, to open the door for the return of democracy. Therezinha got to know the political obstacles, and she never lost the […]


Silvia Pimentel (Brazil)

Unfortunately, women still face discrimination almost all over the world.” For 30 years, Silvia Pimentel (1940) has been fighting social and legal inequalities against women. Holding a degree in law, she faces controversial issues such as domestic violence, trafficking of girls and women, homosexuality and abortion. With feminist Florisa Verucci, she drew up the New […]

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Ruth de Souza (Brazil)

Peace is living with dignity and pleasure. Greed brings unhappiness and stops human beings from being in peace.” Daughter of a laundress and of a peasant, Ruth de Souza (1928) was born in Rio and was the first Afro-Brazilian woman to become an actress. In 1945, she founded the Afro-Brazilian Experimental Theater. She was the […]


Raimunda Gomes da Silva (Brazil)

The power of capitalism makes a small number of people accumulate wealth, while many others become poorer every day. How can a mother live in peace if she can not feed her little children?” Raimunda Gomes da Silva (1944), ‘dona Raimunda do Coco’ (lady Raimunda of the Coconut), is respected for her leadership in the […]

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Procópia dos Santos Rosa (Brazil)

I speak slowly and always looking in the eyes of powerful people.” Procópia dos Santos Rosa (1933) is leader of the Calunga’s Quilombo. At first, ‘quilombos’ were places where runaway slaves used to found secret and free communities. Procópia can not read or write, but she knows everything about the grammar of life. To get […]