Within a few decades of activity, the feminist efforts led to the first milestones, among them women entering the work force as lawyers, doctors, architects, engineers, etc. Carmen Portinho was one of them, as she was the third woman in Brazil to obtain a degree in Engineering, in 1926. Years later, in 1939, she became one of the first female urban planners in the country.
The struggle for women’s vote included some frustrated attempts before it became reality – first in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in 1927, with teacher Celina Guimarães as the first woman voter and Alzira Soriano as the first woman elected in Brazil, appointed as mayor of the city of Lajes in 1928. Actions continued throughout the rest of the country, including a flight over Rio de Janeiro from which Carmen Portinho and her colleagues made a ‘shower’ of ’ informative pamphlets about the importance of women’s suffrage.
By the late 1920s, it was increasingly common for young women to enroll in higher education. Thus, Portinho and other feminists founded the Women’s University Union in 1929, creating a support network for female students from all over Brazil. Women began appearing more, and newspapers and magazines opened up spaces for information for and by women, such as the Sunday column in O Paiz newspaper, written by Portinho, Bertha Lutz and Orminda Bastos, which focused on subjects ranging from beauty care to women’s emancipation.