Quick Facts
Biography
Albertina Almeida (born 1966) is a lawyer and human rights activist from Goa.
Career
Almeida's parents both worked for the government. She holds a doctorate in Law and has authored a thesis on the matrimonial property rights of women. She co-founded Bailancho Saad (transl. Voice of Women), a women's collective organisation, and laterSaad Aangan., a gender resource group. She has also co-initiated several other citizens' formations such as Citizens' Initiatives for Communal Harmony and SEZ Watch. She is a member of the Al-Zulaij Collective and of the Social Justice Action Committee-Goa.She has been a speaker at successive editions of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival. She was also part of a panel at Difficult Dialogues 2018, speaking on the topic Empowerment within the Family: Women and the Law, and is a member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, which has a consultative status with UN ESCAP and is part of many networks including the Intercontinental Alliance for Women, Law and Development. She is the author of the book Tug and Tear: Dealing With Child Sexual Abuse.
She is a member of the Board of Studies in Women's Studies at Goa University and has an office in Taleigao, Goa. She has written articles for Herald Goa, "Goa Today" The Wire and DNA News. and poems for Muse India. She was also part of the panel for the program of Zero Discrimination Day, organised by Human Touch Foundation at Instituto Nossa Senhora de Piedade, Panjim.
Work with Bailancho Saad
Almeida co-founded Bailancho Saad in 1986. The organisation was responsible for putting gender on the agenda in Goa, and for getting the Dowry Prohibition Act extended to Goa and for unearthing a racket of selling abandoned infants in Goa.