The Second International Women’s Congress took place in Rio de Janeiro in 1931, and gathered women from Brazil and around the world. One of the most discussed topics was the legalisation of the women’s vote in Rio Grande do Norte. In addition to the meetings, the Congress featured various actions, from home decor activities to the First Women’s Salon of Fine Arts, organised by Portinho. The exhibition happened soon after the famous Salon of 31, organised by Lucio Costa, which sought to revolutionise teaching at the still academic Escola Nacional de Belas Artes.
The Congress primarily served to organise strategies to make women’s suffrage a national reality. Among them was a meeting between Carmen Portinho and President Getúlio Vargas, during which Portinho requested full women’s voting on a national scale, a right which was eventually recognised on 24 February 1932. After political emancipation was ratified, Carmen Portinho and other feminist focused their efforts on the fight for equality, especially women’s independence from men. In her own words in the newspaper A Noite, without minimising the victory achieved, Portinho declared: “What importance can the right to vote have for us, in the face of other great rights which we have not yet obtained?”