Carmen Portinho and the Vanguard of Modernism in Brazil

In the early 1920s, a time when women could not even work without their husband's authorization, Carmen Portinho started an engineering course at the Polytechnic School of the University of Brazil. At the vanguard of the profession, as one of the first three women to graduate as engineers in Brazil, she was opening up a field in a space dominated entirely by men.

Carmen Portinho and the Vanguard of Modernism in Brazil
Conjunto Residencial Prefeito Mendes de Moraes (Pedregulho). Foto © Pedro Mascaro Conjunto Residencial Prefeito Mendes de Moraes (Pedregulho). Foto © Pedro Mascaro

In the early 1920s, a time when women could not even work without their husband's authorization, Carmen Portinho started an engineering course at the Polytechnic School of the University of Brazil. At the vanguard of the profession, as one of the first three women to graduate as engineers in Brazil, she was opening up a field in a space dominated entirely by men.

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