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Hotel Avenida Palace, R. 1º de Dezembro 123, 1200-359 Lisboa, Portugal
Virgínia
Sofia Guerra Quaresma OSE (28 December 1882 – 23 October 1973) was the first
woman to take up professional journalism in Portugal and was one of the first
women graduates from the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon. She was
openly lesbian, in a time when society dictated that sexual orientation be
hidden, and a feminist, who advocated for full equality between men and women.
Traveling to Brazil to write about a sensational murder case, she brought
violence against women to the forefront, in a case that spanned almost a
decade. In the 1930s, she relocated permanently to Brazil, but traveled
internationally with her work. A street was renamed in her honor in the city
of Belém and in 2010, she was honored with a stamp bearing her likeness, along
with other women.
Virgínia Sofia Guerra Quaresma was born on 28 December 1882 in Elvas,
Portugal to Ana de Conceição Guerra and General Júlio César Ferreira Quaresma.
Her father was a regimental commander and she was the only daughter in the
family. She had two brothers, Eduardo and Carlos.
She graduated with the credentials for teaching from the First Normal School
of Lisbon and then enrolled in the Superior Course of Letters at the
University of Lisbon. Graduating in 1903, she became one of the first women to
graduate from the university's Faculty of Arts.
Quaresma, along with Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, Adelaide Cabete, Carolina
Michaëlis de Vasconcelos, Alice Pestana,
Olga Sarmento da Silveira, among others, were the leading feminists at the
turn of the century in Portugal.
Beginning her career in feminist journals, such as O Mundo—Jornal da Mulher,
she contributed articles discussing women's total equality and the pacifist
movement.
She argued for equal rights in all arenas: access to professions,
administration of property, education, equal pay, freedom of decisions, full
legal and civil authority (including adoption, divorce, guardianship of
children), the right to work for married women, as well as the right to vote.
Quaresma was the principal editor of the journal Sociedade Futura
(Future Society)
and on 18 May 1906, she reported on Sarmento da Silveira's presentation on the
Feminist Problem. That work spurred women to organize the Feminist Section of
the Portuguese League of Peace and by December Quaresma was heading the
organizational committee.
Quaresma was the editor-in-chief of the feminist journal, Alma Feminina
(Feminine Soul), from the middle of 1907 to the early part of 1908
and then at the invitation of Manuel Guimarães went to work at O Século
(The Century) to primarily cover political events.
In an article, "Feminine Solidarity", published 26 April 1907, Quaresma
condemned the cloistered life most Portuguese women were forced to lead
and argued that the country had an obligation to improve the situation of
women.
Though in favor of the development of the Portuguese Republic, she approached
the argument for Republicanism in feminist terms, arguing in the General
Assembly of the Republican League of Portuguese Women for passage of the
Divorce Law in 1909, and in 1910 for the economic independence and education
of women.
In 1910, when Manuel Guimarães left O Século, to found A Capital
(The Capital), he encouraged Quaresma to follow him there. She accepted the
new post, covering the most important happenings along with her colleague
Hermano Neves.
These two newspapers were the most important papers in the capital city at the
time,
and Quaresma used the platform to argue for coeducational schooling, a radical
topic at the time.
She also recognized the importance of marketing and used her newspaper
contacts to create the first advertising agency to be run by a woman, one of
the few such agencies in the country at the time.
In 1912, Quaresma was invited to come to Brazil to cover the story of the
femicide of Anita Levy by her husband, the well-known poet, João Barreto.
She moved to Rio de Janeiro with her partner,
Maria da Cunha Zorro, for whom she also secured employment with the
newspaper, A Época, which had hired her.
Quaresma not only reported the details of the crime, by following the police
investigation and trial, but she framed the story in feminist terms,
discussing the violence, Barreto's alcoholism and jealousy, and the lack of
legal protection for women from violence. The case elevated her career and she
became known as a crime reporter, though Barreto was acquitted.
Da Cunha's death on 10 January 1917, probably was the event which propelled
Quaresma to return to Portugal,
where she rejoined A Capital.
She continued following the case of Barreto, publishing demands for justice
for Levy. In 1921, he was retried and convicted. In an interview with Spain's
ABC, Quaresma said she could not let the campaign go and needed to
obtain justice for the victim.
Hotel Avenida Palace, R. 1º de Dezembro 123, 1200-359 Lisboa, Portugal
Soon after returning to Lisbon, around 1922, Óscar de Carvalho Azevedo,
whom she had known in Brazil, asked Quaresma to head a new organization which
focused on presenting news going on in the Americas to Portuguese audiences.
She accepted the post, becoming the director of the American News Agency.
She openly had lesbian relationships, living for many years at the Hotel
Palace and maintaining a relationship with Maria Torres. Homophobia in
Portugal was severe
and the new fascist state of the First Republic imposed harsh penalties for
any kind of subversive behavior. Gays were routinely arrested and imprisoned,
with their families and friends also facing repercussions.
Fearing that she would encounter problems since Quaresma had hired her to work
for the Agency, family members of Maria Lamas encouraged Lamas to quit her
first journalism position.
When her relationship ended, Quaresma began a lifelong partnership with the
widow of a fellow journalist known only as "Madame Silva Passos".
In addition to her reporting, Quaresma organized events to spur
Luso-Brazilian cooperation. In 1923, she organized the visit of President
António José de Almeida for a Brazilian exhibition and in 1933, organized the
Rio de Janeiro Trade Demonstration Exposition centennial celebration. The
latter event hosted conferences, concerts and recitations as well as
documentaries, during the "Portuguese Week" of the fair.
After the fair was over Quaresma relocated permanently in Brazil with her
partner.
During World War II, she utilized her connections with the Agency to support
the charitable organization Portuguese Women's Crusade with aid for disabled
veterans, orphans and widows.
After the war ended, Quaresma hosted cultural programs, featuring young
musicians and literary figures, giving many young artists their first steps to
fame.
For the next thirty years, she traveled throughout the world practicing her
craft with Silva Passos, who died in the early 1960s, leaving Quaresma bereft
and unable to carry out the day to day household tasks that her partner had
handled so she could work.
Quaresma's death was reported on 23 October 1973 in Lisbon, in the
newspaper La República.
After her death, biographers of Quaresma attempted to erase her lesbian past
and the oppressive climate that contributed to her living abroad.
Fifteen years after she died, she was honored by the city of Belém, which
named a street after her in the Caselas neighborhood.
In 2010, the country of Portugal issued a series of stamps to recognize the
women who had helped the country to develop at the turn of the 20th century.
Along with other women, Quaresma's likeness appeared on the €1.15 stamp.
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