In the week this text is published, the memories of 1976 are being revisited through the perspectives of a diverse group of people, at different moments, and under the patronage of institutions that are often publicly at odds with one another.

The occasion is the Rua Direita Festival, now in its second edition, which this year is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Azorean Autonomy, offering a sublime example of how culture can serve as a powerful instrument of democracy.

The Cultural Association Cães do Mar is one of the most active cultural organizations in our Region. It continues to withstand the storms created by the poor technical management of the Regional Directorate and the political leadership of the Regional Secretariat, along with the catastrophic attempts at finding solutions—subjects that alone could fill reams of opinion columns. One day, they surely will.

But today this piece is about 1976, and more specifically about the path that has been traveled since then. This week, through a partnership between Cães do Mar and Lar Doce Livro, several women were invited to reflect on fifty years of sexism in the Azorean Parliament—a subject that some believe has already been resolved, but which has returned with violence and offense, accompanied by repeated attempts to turn it into a taboo.

It is important to remember that sexism manifests itself in many different ways. It may appear through stereotypes that associate political leadership with supposedly masculine traits, through the devaluation of women’s abilities, through the higher standards imposed on their performance, or through the disproportionate attention given to their appearance, age, or personal lives—factors that are rarely used to judge their male colleagues.

That is precisely what the discussion at Lar Doce Livro is about: the ways in which some men use language and prejudice to diminish the women who sit beside them as equals. I imagine there will also be discussion about the women who consent to, and often reinforce, this reality. Voices from across the political spectrum have come together to recall what it means to be a woman seated in those parliamentary benches. I lived through it myself, with an intensity that still haunts me today, even though I never allowed myself to be bowed by remarks about the supposed effects of menstruation, accusations of hysteria, or other atrocities of that kind.

I have always thought of Natália, Zuraida, Andreia, and so many others who confronted sexism and elevated the quality of parliamentary debate. Today we have Marta, Sandra, and Sabrina, among others. But it is not enough. It never will be, so long as even a single voice continues to knock women down—not because of the ideas they defend, but because of prejudice and stereotypes, so often voiced by the deeply resentful conservatives in parliamentary benches that have never truly embraced the freedoms won in April.

Fifty years after 1976, there is still much left to discuss, important memories to preserve, and a long list of challenges yet to overcome. From Rua Direita, with its stimulating program, aboard the Asas do Açor, may we defeat the enemies of freedom who still walk among us, and honor the women who dare to challenge prejudice.

Alexandra Manes is from Flores Island but lives on Terceira Island in the Azores. She is a regular contributor to several Azorean newspapers, a political and cultural activist, and has served in the Azorean Parliament.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from leading thinkers and writers in the Azores, providing the diaspora and those interested in the current state of the Azores with a sense of the significant perspectives on some of the archipelago’s issues.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL).