Sofia Quintino (1879-1964) was one of the first female physicians to graduate in Portugal. An active feminist, who opposed the Portuguese monarchy, she played a particularly important role in developing a secular nursing service, in a country where nursing had previously been the preserve of nuns.

Background and career

Sofia da Conceição Quintino was born in 1879 in the village of Lamas, in the municipality of

Cadaval Cadaval () is a municipality in the Oeste (intermunicipal community), Oeste region and Lisbon District of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 14,228,Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. She attended the ''Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Lisboa'' (Medical-Surgical School of

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

), the institution that would eventually become the Faculty of Medicine at the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

. After graduation, with a thesis entitled ''Some Words Regarding the Sensitization of Bacteria'', she worked as an assistant at the clinical analysis laboratory that served Lisbon's public hospitals. Between 1918 and 1948 she was head of the Physiotherapy Services in public hospitals in Lisbon, also working as a general doctor and a high-school teacher. Midway through her career she returned to university and in 1931 graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

Feminism

As a feminist and pacifist, she was involved with Portuguese and international pacifist groups, in addition to being a co-founder of the (''Grupo Português de Estudos Feministas''), which was formed in 1907, led by

Ana de Castro Osório Ana de Castro Osório (18 June 1872 – 23 March 1935) was a Portuguese feminist, active in the field of children's literature and political Republicanism. Early life Osório was born into a well-off family on 18 June 1872, her mother being Mari ...

Adelaide Cabete Adelaide Cabete Adelaide Cabete (25 January 1867, Elvas – 14 September 1935), was a Portuguese feminist and republican. In 1909, with Ana de Castro Osorio she created the Republican League of Portuguese Women. She was the founder of the Portug ...

, also a doctor with whom Quintino had studied in Lisbon, and

Maria Veleda Maria Veleda, the pseudonym widely used by Maria Carolina Frederico Crispin (1871–1955), was a Portuguese educator, journalist and activist. One of the most effective early feminists in Portugal, she fought for the rights of women factory worker ...

. This organization, which closed in 1908, had the aim of spreading the ideals of female emancipation. Despite its short life it formed the basis for the future development of other, longer-lasting women's movements. Quintino wrote feminist articles in a journal aimed at women, ''Jornal das Senhoras'', and wrote training material for women, with special attention to children's health. Like most of those who shared her beliefs, she was also a Republican in favour of the overthrow of the monarchy, which took place on 5 October 1910. After the establishment of the

First Portuguese Republic The First Portuguese Republic ( pt, Primeira República Portuguesa; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy ...

, and as a member of the Republican League of Portuguese Women, she argued strongly to change the law to permit divorce.

Nursing

The outbreak of World War I (1914–18) led to the creation of several women's movements in support of soldiers and the war wounded, as well as their families. "Assistance of the Portuguese to the Victims of War" was formed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

but, arguing that such care should not be associated with religion, Sofia Quintino was one of the major drivers of ''Pela Pátria'', a secular organization created in 1914, that conducted the first nursing courses in Portugal that were not held just for

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s. After Germany declared war on Portugal in March 1916, Quintino was head of nursing training of the

Portuguese Women's Crusade The Portuguese Women's Crusade ( pt, italic=no, Cruzada das Mulheres Portuguesas ) was a Portuguese feminist beneficence movement, founded in 1916 by a group of women led by First Lady Elzira Dantas Machado (an important advocate for women's acti ...

, which provided assistance to the mobilized soldiers and was one of the first institutions in Portugal to organize women for the war effort, carrying out activities such as making warm clothes that were sent to the

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quintino, Sofia People from Cadaval Portuguese republicans Portuguese feminists Portuguese women physicians University of Paris alumni 1879 births 1964 deaths