Virgínia Quaresma

Virgínia Sofia Guerra Quaresma 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. In her coverage of a sensational murder case in Brazil, she brought the issue of violence against women to the forefront. In the 1930s, she relocated permanently to Brazil, but traveled internationally with her work. A street was renamed in her honor in the Belém neighborhood of Lisbon, and in 2010, she was honored with a stamp bearing her likeness, along with other women.