10 Aug 2022 | 04:57am IST
Highlighting the lives of Goan women achievers
Goan women have played major roles in different fields, right from the turn of the century and going beyond the limitations of their home. Fátima da Silva Gracias brings to the fore the profiles of 119 women from Goa who played an important role in their respective careers
Dolcy D’Cruz
I
n her work life as a researcher for over four decades, Fatima da
Silva Gracias from Panjim didn’t think that she would write a book on Goan
women in such an extensive manner. But her every page of notes came to good use
when the lockdown shut the doors of libraries in the state and she could still
complete a 352- page book titled ‘Trailblazer - Some Goan Women Achievers’.
The book features the profiles of 119 in
the field of literature, history, science, medicine, music, paintings and art
and even those who worked closely with the United Nations.
A noted author and historian, Silva
Gracias had earlier written books like ‘Health and Hygiene in Colonial Goa’,
‘Kaleidoscope of Women in Goa’, ‘Cozinha de Goa’ and ’The Many Faces of
Sundorem’.
‘Trailblazers: Some Goan Women Achievers’
goes back to the late 19th century with some of the first Goan women achievers.
Some are still very active and working in their respective fields, adding value
to their work with each passing decade. “The book was divided into four larger
categories - writers in different languages, doctors and those who worked in
the field of medicine, artists, and women in music and women who worked in UN
connection. This is not an exhaustive list of women achievers as there are
still a lot more Goan women achieving greater heights and there is always room
for another book which can be written by anyone,” says Silva Gracias.
In her book, almost all the women listed have been born in Goa
to Goan parents, born to Goan parents outside Goa, and women whose one parent
has been of Goan origin. These women might have moved to other parts of the
world but their contributions certainly had an impact on the lives of other
women in Goa and the diaspora.
Silva Gracias collated profiles as narrated by the person
profiled, or with the help of information from their families, and even from
her research on Goan women for over thirty years from libraries, archives and
private collections in Goa, Bombay and Lisbon. Impressively, in the section on
Goan women in UN, there are six women mentioned. These women include Maria
Virginia Braz Gomes - a member of the Portuguese Permanent Mission, Ligia
Noronha - current Assistant General Secretary, Patricia Pereira Sethi - UN
Bureau Chief, Leonor Rangel-Ribeiro - a community development expert for UN,
Lea Vaz Rangel-Ribeiro - a former principal of the United Nations International
School at New York, and Lyra Branca Pinto Rangel- Ribeiro, who served in the UN
Department of Social and Economic Development.
The cover of the book is the work of Silva Gracias’ daughter
Nandita - her first attempt at illustrating the cover of a book. Daughter of
Maria Olinda das Neves Pimenta Rebelo and Francisco Caetano Trasfiguracao da
Silva, Silva Gracias dedicated this book to her mother. “This work is a tribute
to my loving mother. The photograph at the beginning of the book was taken by
my father who loved to capture happy moments for us on his US-made Eastman
Kodak camera. These photographs needed film rolls that would take time to
process. Likewise, the story of women’s attainments in Goa has taken its time
to be told. One hopes this trend would change soon enough,” says Silva Gracias.
The
book is published by Goa, 1556 and is available at Broadway Bookstore and
Varsha Bookstall in Panjim, and DogEars Bookshop in Margao.
