It was a journey marked by the advances and retreats of the rain. The march for the liberation of all women in Lisbon departed from Marquês de Pombal and proceeded without respite to Rossio. Along the way, different messages marked the posters, placards and banners of the demonstration, but all converged in the struggle for women’s equality.

At the head of the demonstration there is a banner that reads “Do not take children away from those who do not have a home”. The group gathered there is in solidarity with Ana Paula dos Santos, a woman who, with three children and no housing alternatives, resorted to self-building to have a place to live. But she was evicted by the State and now lives in a makeshift situation in a guesthouse.

More Left The Revolution they don’t want to let us make - Fight for the right to housing 02 March 2025 “They sent me to the guesthouse, I’m pregnant, and they tell me that when I have the baby I can’t return to the guesthouse”, Ana Paula tells Esquerda.net. As she was warned, they will not let her leave the hospital with the child if she does not have a home to return to, and they will not let the other children stay alone in the guesthouse while she is in hospital. Therefore, the threat is that they will take her children away.

Ana Paula is looking for a home. “When I send a message or call landlords, they tell me that because I am not Portuguese the property is not available”, says the mother of three. “It’s difficult, moreover they want the rents, the deposit, a Portuguese guarantor”. This situation is “impossible” and “very stressful”, according to her. “With the salary one receives I cannot find an alternative”.

That is why housing rights movements, such as Habita, joined the feminist movement, to highlight Ana Paula’s case. It is an example of one of the intersections of struggle that are forming throughout the march, where anti-racist, immigrant, climate movements and political parties are also present.

A little further back are the feminist collectives, articulated with other platforms such as the Assembleia Argentina Não Se Vende (Argentina Is Not For Sale Assembly), a collective composed mainly of women that marches in Portugal with an internationalist message. The assembly was born in Lisbon in 2023 and is organised to denounce the situation in Argentina. Marta Fanti, one of the organisers, has lived in Lisbon for four years and says that “there are things that are transversal to cultures”.

“In Argentina there are many people at risk because they are passing laws outside of congress and the abortion and sex education laws are at risk”, she explains. “These are setbacks against which we fight”, as in Portugal where “there is still a lot of gender violence and inequality”. This inequality is faced, according to Marta, with organisation. “Feminist movements need to grow, they need more experience and exchange practices, in contact with other social movements, without fear of occupying that political space”.

A “deafening roar of love” moved the march to end violence against women 25 November 2024 Beside these collectives marches Paula Teixeira. She came to the demonstration and brought her daughter, “who always likes to come”. “8 March is the day of women’s rights”, she says. “It is now more than ever important to be present, due to the growth of the far-right”.

Paula argues that “we need to stop being ashamed of being free, of coming to a demonstration, of going out at night”. “There is much to combat and much to fight for”, especially in Portugal where “it is necessary to reconcile work with family and with the education of children, and who does that are women, who work two or three shifts”.

“Feminist pride against the far-right”, says Mariana Mortágua

At the end of the demonstration, the Left Bloc and other parties march. Holding the banner are several Left Bloc leaders and the national coordinator of the party. “Much has been conquered”, Mariana Mortágua tells journalists. “But it is necessary to guarantee equal pay, concrete rights in housing, which affects women much more, in the care crisis, for example”.

“And there are rights that have been won in law but are not being fulfilled”, says the Left Bloc leader. This is the case with the abortion law where there is a lack of “guarantee of quality and access to public services”.

The national coordinator of the Left Bloc emphasised that human rights and women’s rights are among the first to be attacked when the far-right advances. “As the far-right advances, the first victims are women, in access to health, sexual and reproductive rights, diversity”.

Therefore, Mariana Mortágua says that it is important to be on the street with “feminist pride against the far-right” and against the advance of hatred against solidarity.

Esquerda

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