Misplaced Pages

Maria Domingas Alves

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
East Timorese activist
Maria Domingas Fernandes Alves
Director, Office for the Promotion of Equality
In office
May 2002 – June 2006
Minister of Social Solidarity
In office
8 August 2007 – 8 August 2012
Succeeded byIsabel Guterres [de]
Personal details
Born (1959-11-28) 28 November 1959 (age 65)
Laclo, Manatuto, Portuguese Timor
ProfessionWomen's rights activist,
civil servant

Maria Domingas Fernandes Alves (born 28 November 1959), nickname Mana (sister) Micato or Mikato, resistance name Beta Mau, is a women's rights activist, former resistance fighter, civil servant and non-party politician from East Timor. From 2007 to 2012 she was Minister of Social Solidarity.

Early life

Alves was born in Laclo, Manatuto. Her father was chief of a sub-district in Portuguese Timor, and then a member of the parliament of Manatuto during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Alves attended the Liceu Dr. Francisco Machado, Dili. She is married to Jacinto Alves, with whom she had four daughters and a son.

Resistance careers

During the Indonesian occupation of East Timor (1975-1999), Alves was one of the main female leaders of the resistance movement, especially around Laclubar and Laclo. She participated actively in the Organização Popular de Mulheres Timorense (Popular Organisation of East Timorese Women) (OPMT), the women's organization of FRETILIN. In 1978, Alves and her husband were arrested in the mountains and taken to Metinaro for interrogation. They were released after about sixteen days, and sent to Dili, where Alves worked as a civil servant in the Indonesian Industry and Trade Authority from 1983-1999. In 1997, she co-founded the women's rights organization Forum for Communication for East Timorese Women (FOKUPERS), and campaigned for independence in the run-up to the 1999 East Timorese independence referendum.

Political career

In 2000, Alves organized the first National Women's Congress. In the interim government under United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Alves became a gender equality adviser on September 30, 2001. The same year, Alves was selected by Rede Feto, a network of about 15 women’s organisations, to stand as an independent candidate in the first parliamentary elections, but she was not elected to the national parliament of East Timor. Instead, she became an adviser to the Prime Minister on promoting equality, and in 2002, she was appointed director of the Office for the Promotion of Equality, a role she held until June 2006, when she was the first holder of public office to resign during the 2006 East Timorese crisis. In 2005, Alves was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her role in the independence movement and her work for the rights of women. From May 2005 to 2007, Alves was an appointed member of the Council of State (Portuguese: Conselho de Estado), which advises the President of East Timor.

From 8 August 2007 to 8 August 2012, Alves was Minister of Social Solidarity in the IV Government of East Timor, with Xanana Gusmão as president. In 2012, under a new government, it was reportedly proposed that she would be appointed Minister of Defence and Security, but according to press reports, President Taur Matan Ruak, who was a former military commander in chief of the army, opposed her appointment. Alves allegedly rejected a return to her old ministerial post because of the "insult". On October 23, 2012, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão was finally sworn in as Minister of Defence.

Alves was appointed a commissioner of the Civil Service Commission (Comissão da Função Pública) on 29 May 2015.

Awards

On November 28, 2006, Alves received from the government the Nicolau Lobato Order for her participation and contribution to the liberation of East Timor.

Publications

  • c. 2004 - Written with blood, by Maria Domingas Fernandes Alves with Laura Soares Abrantes and Filomena B Reis. Dili : Office for Promotion of Equality. OCLC 938443638

References

  1. ^ See, Bridgette (January 2007). "Peace Activist". Timor Leste Now & the Future. Unicef Timor-Leste: 14–15. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  2. ^ Ospina, Sofi; de Lima, Isabel (2006). Legge, Michele; Parkinson, Chris (eds.). Participation of Women in Politics and Decision Making in Timor-Leste: A Recent History (PDF). Dili, East Timor: United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  3. ^ Gabrielson, Curt (1 February 2002). "East Timorese Women On Their Way Up" (PDF). ICWA Letters. No. CG-14. New Hampshire, US: Institute of Current World Affairs. p. 2. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  4. ^ Gunter, Janet (9 August 2012). "East Timor: President Rejects Woman Defense Minister". Global Voices. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Decreto do Presidente da República Número 54/2006 Condecorações a atribuir aos Combatentes da Libertação Nacionala 28 de Novembro de 2006" (PDF). Jornal da República (in Portuguese). 1 (22): 1613. 22 November 2006. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  6. ^ UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (11 October 2001). "GOVERNMENT ADVISOR ON PROMOTION OF EQUALITY SWORN-IN". UNTAET Daily Briefing. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  7. ^ Costa, Monica (2017). Gender Responsive Budgeting in Fragile States: The Case of Timor-Leste. Routledge. ISBN 9781315283074. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  8. ^ Cristalis, Irena; Scott, Catherine; Andrade, Ximena (2005). Independent Women: The Story of Women's Activism in East Timor. CIIR. ISBN 9781852873172. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  9. "II UNTAET Transitional Government". Government of Timor Leste. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  10. "REPÚBLICA DEMOCRÁTICA DE TIMOR-LESTE PARLAMENTO NACIONAL RESOLUÇÃO DO PARLAMENTO NACIONAL NO. 7/2005" (PDF). Ministry of Justice, Government of Timor Leste (in Portuguese). 10 May 2005. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  11. "IV Constitutional Government". Government of Timor-Leste. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  12. Whittington, Sherrill (2015). "Women in Postconflict Decision-Making". In Baksh-Soodeen, Rawwida; Harcourt, Wendy (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Transnational Feminist Movements. Oxford University Press. p. 754. ISBN 9780199943494. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  13. "New team for the Civil Service Commission sworn into office". Government of Timor-Leste. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
Categories: