Fátima da Silva Gracias has always had a deep interest in knowing all about the status of women in Goa and how it has evolved over the centuries. Her passion for this theme led her to research on women and the outcome has been various articles and books on women in Goa.
After previously publishing 'Kaleidoscope of Women in Goa' (1996), 'The Many Faces of Sundorem --Women in Goa' (2007), and a biography of Goan artist Angela Trindade titled 'Angela Trindade: A Trinity of Light, Colour and Emotion' (2016), Gracias has now come out with a new book 'The Trailblazers: Some Goan Women Achievers'.
"I have compiled in this book profiles of 118 women who have made their mark during the last 150 years in their home state of Goa and overseas. These include women born in Goa to Goan parents, born to Goan parents outside Goa, and women who had one parent of Goan origin," says Gracias.
The women featured in this book have been divided into different categories. There are entries on those involved in writing books in various languages from Konkani, Portuguese, English, and French to Spanish, Esperanto, and Catalan. Women who have made it to the UNO such as Ligia Noronha, Virginia Braz Gomes, Lyra Srinivassan, Patricia Sethi, and Leonor Rangel Ribeiro to name a few also find mention.
Nearly two dozen entries are related to women in the field of medicine and other sciences which include the first Goan woman to study medicine in Bombay, Emelina da Cunha who went for further studies in medicine to Italy and England and trained as an opera singer in late 19th century.
Other prominent names from this field which Goa might have all but forgotten include a doctor from Kenya, Mary Matilda Pereira de Souza (1890-1953), and other prominent doctors like Myrtle de Noronha (Bombay), Escolastica Gracias e Peres, Anita de Souza, the Hawaii-based Maria Cristina Snyder, psychiatrist Adelia Peres e Costa (1928-2019), Karachi's Sylvia de Sa, Ratan Counto-Naik, and even Dr Reita Faria Powell of Tivim (better known as Miss World 1966).
Beyond medicine, Goan women have earned their name and fame in botany, cancer therapy, evolutionary biology, research, and even travelling to Antarctica for scientific research (Helga do Rosario Gomes).
The book also carries profiles of women in music, both Western and Hindustani, the Konkani tiatr and cantaram, painting, sculpture, filmmaking, and curating.
In the process of researching for this book, Gracias reveals that she began to realise just how much women have achieved not only in Goa but in the Indian subcontinent, Europe, Africa and the USA, some of them in present times and in the past. "Goan women travelled sometimes alone to upgrade their education to places like Mumbai, Europe and even USA. Yet much has not been written about Goan women until the last few decades," she says, adding that putting together this book was no easy task given that she began work on it just after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. "These were unprecedented times when life had almost come to stand still and people were restricted to their homes. Archives and libraries were closed for a long time. Fortunately, I had collected some material over the years from libraries in Goa, Mumbai, and Lisbon. Some material was sent by the women themselves, their families and friends," she says.
Gracias reiterates that the work done in 'The Trailblazers: Some Goan Women Achievers' is not exhaustive and many more profiles in the above categories can be included. "More women could not be included in the present work due to constraints of space, my inability to collect sufficient material due to the pandemic and in some cases due to lack of easily available information," she says. "The work needs to be continued by someone. A project backed by the government or some other organisation would be important and useful."