The intellectual contribution of Angolan women in the independence process of Angola

Abstract

The author is Angolan and operates in one of NEABI projects. The reflection presented in this article is part of the dialogue that is sought in NEABI, with African history and culture. The article proposes a reflective look on the Angolan woman in the different social levels; it highlights the peculiar and unique characteristic of women in Angola. Some women who have contributed directly in the political, social development in Angola in the colonial era and post-civil war that lasted about 40 years. The core of this article is to address the intellectual woman at the time of the Portuguese invasion, and post-civil war in Angola. The Angolan woman, or African woman, has peculiar characteristics, are different from other women outside of Africa. The article talks of the Angolan intellectual woman, not of African women in general. When we speak of the intellectual woman in Angola we recognize that it is not easy being a woman in our context. They are discriminated against first by the condition of being a woman; being a woman in Angola is being a housewife, who supports her family, who supports the aggressive husband who is sometimes polygamous, a unique and cultural condition in the countries of Africa. The Gramscian organic intellectual concept is used because it fits the Angolan intellectual woman. For Gramsci the organic intellectual necessarily involves academia, but any individual in the use of his reason is able to abstract a critical reflection.