About

The Gender Workshop proposes to continue the “Feminist Interviews” with people from different areas of intervention and work in the field of gender equality and women's dignity and wellbeing in Portugal and Spain.The interviews will allow us to map relevant work carried out in our country and in the neighbouring country, not only in the academy, in the sciences, but also in activism, the arts, care, work, trade unionism, etc.In this interview, we will meet Maria Gil, interviewed by Eliane Godinho (CES).

Bio notes

Maria Gil | Actor, activist and feminist. She is the mother of four teenagers and lives in the city of Porto. She is a Romani actress, activist and feminist, being a reference in the promotion of the feminist movement of Romani women in Portugal. She is involved in multiple activities that aim to pass on the message of equality and the fight against ethno-racial discrimination, especially in relation to racialised people. She is an inspirational figure for many women in Portugal, Roma and non-Roma alike, for the courage and determination with which she leads the fight for women's rights and those of her birth community. Her activism is mainly done through theatre, she has done community theatre and theatre of the oppressed. Theatre is one of the forms she has chosen, as well as lectures and social support to socially vulnerable groups, marginalized and excluded. Maria Gil participates in networks of independent organisations, and is currently involved in initiatives for the promotion of equality and the right to housing. She mobilizes and intervenes in socio-educational projects that enable individual and collective reflection processes for a greater awareness of injustices and social inequalities, especially about gender equality issues, present in the different racialized communities in Portugal.

Eliane Godinho | PhD candidate in Feminist Studies - FLUC/CES. Pedagogue and Master in Education by the Federal University of Pelotas/Brazil. She has worked as a pedagogue in the early grades in the municipal education system of Pelotas, has integrated the Observatory of Gender and Diversity of UFPel and the research group DGenerus: Group for Feminist and Gender Studies of the Federal University of Pelotas. Her current areas of interest are: feminist and gender studies, popular education, feminist pedagogy, feminist popular education, anti-gypsyism and social movements. She is currently a grant holder of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) - and focuses exclusively on her research project.