Africa-Press – Angola. First Lady Ana Dias Lourenço on Saturday reaffirmed that women played a crucial role in the struggle for freedom, justice, peace and democracy, throughout the history of Angola.
Ana Dias Lourenço was speaking in Luanda, at a colloquy on the role of women in the struggle for national independence, promoted by the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Women’s Promotion, in the framework of the 50th anniversary of Angola’s independence, proclaimed on11 November 1975.
According to the First Lady, women played a fundamental role in the Angolan history, throughout the country’s 50 years of independence, leaving examples of resistance and bravery.
She went on to explain that great changes were verified in the country in that period, including social, political, economic and cultural transformations, with women taking centre stage in various fronts.
She reminded that many women got actively involved in the organisations of resistance against the Portuguese colonial regime, some even joined combat forces.
The liberation struggle, she stressed, was also a moment in which Angolan women made their affirmation, by showing leadership capacity and courage.
The First Lady sezied the occasion to hail nationalist Angolan women like Deolinda Rodrigues de Almeida, Irene Cohen, Lucrécia Paim, Engrácia dos Santos, Teresa Afonso, Otília Ferreira, Maria Mambo Café, Margarida Chipenda, Guida Ferreira, Maria Rute Neto, Rodeth Teresa Máquina Gil, Luísa Pereira, Luzia Pereira de Sousa Inglês, among others, who, in that time, challenged the existing stereotypes on women, caused or influenced by the then tendency of an imposing patriarchal society.
“Although most of the leaders during the liberation were men, some women reached leading positions within the organisations in which they had duties. They were important in the armed struggle and in the construction of a movement of Angolan female emancipation”, clarified the First Lady.
She also hailed the colloquy as a forum to underscore the commitment to the historical memory of the country and the importance of publicising the legacy left by those women who, in different fronts and with different weapons, contributed to the independent, sovereign, peaceful Angola and to a country in constant evolution.
“It is a unique opportunity for us to celebrate and recognise the undeniable value of women in the construction of our country”, she emphasised.
The event paid homage to women that stood out, in various fields, throughout the country’s fifty years of existence.
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