Houses and women have ties that go back as far as anyone can remember. All over the world, the fight for the right to housing has been and continues to be a women's struggle. In Portugal, the April 1974 Revolution inherited a heavy legacy: women were considered second-class citizens, there was a severe housing shortage, and slums, courtyards, and islands proliferated in the largest cities. Women residents (particularly the poorest), architects, social service technicians, and others became involved in the demand for decent housing. Established in the 1976 Constitution, the right to housing remains unfulfilled today, as do other rights of girls and women.

“Arquitectas da Liberdade” tells their story. Focusing on women and the homes they fought for, before and after April 25, 1974, this exhibition brings together history, oral and visual sources. The exhibition is chronological, thematic, and interdisciplinary. It draws on experiences and life stories, looking at their knowledge and actions. Designed to be part of a traveling circuit, it also includes conversations with guests who lived through this historical period and guided visits. All moments will be recorded, thus contributing both to the construction of an archive of memories around April 25, women's rights, and the struggle for housing, and to sharing stories, concerns, projects, needs, and desires that encourage us to think today about social transformation, equality, freedom, and democracy in Portugal.


Having started on March 6 at the Aljube Museum, where it was open to the public until April 30, and having already passed through Évora between May 17 and June 2, it will now be the turn of “Arquitectas da Liberdade” to be presented in Porto, at the Casa-Atelier José Marques da Silva (Marques da Silva Foundation), where it will remain until June 29. Promoted by the Women in Architecture Association (MA), it is one of 45 projects supported by the 2nd edition of the Art for Democracy program, an initiative of the 50th Anniversary of April 25 Commemorative Commission in partnership with the Directorate-General for the Arts.


On the opening day—June 14 (Saturday)—there will be a guided tour by the curators at 3:30 p.m., followed by a roundtable discussion at 4:30 p.m. with Alexandra Gesta, Manuela Juncal, Orquídea Santos, and Esmeralda Mateus, four women whose lives intersect around the struggle for the right to housing. And to extend the party to the gardens, refreshments will be served at the end.