Ruth Neto

{{Infobox person

| name = Ruth Neto

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Maria Ruth Neto

| birth_date = 22 August 1936

| birth_place = Luanda, Portuguese Angola

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality =

| other_names =

| occupation = {{ubl|Political organizer|Independence activist|Women's rights activist}}

| years_active = 1968–2016

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| relatives = Agostinho Neto (brother)
António Alberto Neto (nephew)
Deolinda Rodrigues (cousin)
Roberto Francisco de Almeida (cousin)

}}

Maria Ruth da Silva Chela Neto (born 1936) is a former Angolan independence activist, political organizer, and women's rights campaigner. Although she studied nursing in Portugal and Germany, in 1968 she joined the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA) and focused on securing Angola's independence from Portugal. Fearing retaliation from the {{lang|pt|Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado|italics=no}} (International and State Defense Police, PIDE), she lived abroad in Germany, Tanzania and Zambia until 1975, when independence was achieved. From the early 1970s, she was the leader of the {{lang|pt|Organização das Mulheres de Angola|italics=no}} (Organization of Angolan Women, OMA) and became the organization's first national coordinator in 1976. OMA was an affiliate of the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) and from 1976 she served as a vice president on their executive committee and attended and spoke at many of the organization's conferences and seminars over the next decades. In 1977, she was elected to the Central Committee of the MPLA, and was re-elected in 1985. When the leadership of the OMA was restructured in 1983, she served as its secretary general until 1999. In 1986, she became the secretary general of the Pan-African Women's Organization and held that post until 1997.

Neto has been recognized with numerous honors. She received Cuba's highest recognition of women, the {{lang|es|Orden Ana Betancourt|italics=no}} ({{ill|Order of Ana Betancourt|ru|Орден «Ана Бетанкур»}}), in 1985 and was honored as a grand companion in the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo of South Africa in 2014. In 2015, she became the first woman to receive the Son and Daughter of Africa Awards for the Promotion of Peace from the African Union. Her portrait was hung in the headquarters of the African Union in 2017 along with other women considered to be the founding mothers of the Pan-African Women's Organization. That year, the OMA hosted a tribute to honor her twenty-one years of service as the secretary general of the organization, and Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (Portuguese Radio and Television Service) featured her biography in its program {{lang|pt|Rostos}} (Faces).

Early life and education

Maria Ruth Neto was born in 1936 in Luanda in Portuguese Angola,{{sfn|Arquivo Lúcio Lara|2021}} as the younger sister of Agostinho Neto, who would become the first president of independent Angola.{{sfn|Sellström|2003|p=434}} Their father, Agostinho Pedro Neto, was a Methodist minister, who worked at an American mission in Luanda,{{sfn|Blanes|2014|p=47}}{{sfn|Gonçalves|2012}} and their mother, Maria da Silva, was a school teacher.{{sfn|Gonçalves|2012}}{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|2018}} Neto was first educated at the Mission School in Luanda, along with her cousin, Deolinda Rodrigues,{{sfn|Domingos|2019|p=162}} niece of Maria da Silva, who had joined the Neto household in 1954 to further her education.{{sfn|Paredes|2019}} In 1956,{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}} Neto received a scholarship to study in Portugal at the {{lang|pt|Seminário de Carcavelos|italics=no}} (Seminary of Carcavelos).{{sfn|Domingos|2019|p=169}} Her brother Agostinho had been involved with the anti-colonialist movement since the early 1950s and in 1960 became president of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA). This led to his arrest in Portugal and eventual exile to Cape Verde.{{sfn|Gonçalves|2012}} In response, large numbers of Angolan students studying in Portugal at Carcavelos and Lumiar gathered in a protest at Lisbon Airport in December 1960, and were assisted in leaving by the World Council of Churches and the {{lang|fr|Comité inter-mouvements auprès des évacués|italics=no}} (Inter-Movement Committee for Evacuees).{{sfn|Domingos|2019|p=188}} From 1961, the Angolan War of Independence was fought by opposing factions including {{lang|pt|Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola|italics=no}} (National Liberation Front of Angola, FNLA) and the MPLA, which were joined in 1966 by the {{lang|pt|União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola|italics=no}} (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA), in the struggle against Portuguese rule.{{sfn|Péclard|2021}}

Career

=Exile (1960–1975)=

Neto and her fiancé fled to Lüdenscheid, near Cologne, Germany, and she found work in a factory.{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}} In 1961, she received a letter from Maria Helena Trovoada, later to become the first lady of São Tomé and Príncipe,{{sfn|Independent Online|2001}} urging her to make use of her time there to research upcoming conferences and networks of international women's organizations in which Angolan women could participate.{{sfn|Trovoada|1961}} Fearing persecution from the {{lang|pt|Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado|italics=no}} (International and State Defense Police, PIDE) Neto felt she could not return to Angola and moved to Frankfurt.{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}}{{#tag:ref|Scholar Margarida Paredes noted that between 1961 and 1975, women's names that appeared on PIDE's lists included Maria Mambo Café, Margarida Chipenda, Guida Ferreira, Rodeth Gil, and Neto.{{sfn|Paredes|2015|p=66}}|group="Note"}} After taking nursing courses she transferred to Freiburg to study clinical analysis. In early 1968, Agostinho met her in Vienna, Austria, and in April Neto moved with his family to Dar es Salaam. In Tanzania, she worked in the office of the MPLA{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}} and became involved in the work of the {{lang|pt|Organização das Mulheres de Angola|italics=no}} (Organization of Angolan Women, OMA),{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}} which had been created in December 1962 by the MPLA with a view to extending its work in rural areas. As most women lived in the countryside,{{sfn|Scott|1994|p=95}} the organization mobilized village women through seminars focused on building cooperation and practical skills, such as literacy campaigns, political and child care education, and sewing classes.{{sfn|Kuumba|Dosunmu|1995|p=101}} In 1971 in Tanzania, Neto met with members of the Chicago Committee for the Liberation of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea, hoping to strengthen ties between the OMA and international women's groups.{{sfn|Liberation in Southern Africa|1976|p=10}} From the early 1970s, despite living abroad, Neto headed the OMA.{{sfn|Stucki|2019|p=264}} After several years, she transferred to the MPLA office in Zambia in the border region with Angola.{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}} The Portuguese coup d'état in April 1974, suspended Portugal's military involvement in Angola,{{sfn|Rothchild|1997|pp=115–116}} leading to Angolan independence on 11 November 1975.{{sfn|Péclard|2021}} Agostinho was proclaimed president on that day,{{sfn|Gonçalves|2012}} and Neto returned to Luanda.{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}}

=Angola (1975–2008)=

Upon her return to Angola, Neto became the national co-ordinator for OMA in 1976, when the first national executive body was established.{{sfn|Liberation in Southern Africa|1976|p=10}}{{sfn|Organization of Angolan Women|1984|pp=19, 93}} In June, she was one of the main speakers at the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) Bureau meeting that assembled in Lisbon.{{sfn|Strippoli|2023|p=9}} The executive committee of the WIDF was called the bureau and included the organization's elected officers.{{sfn|Gradskova|2020|p=271}} Neto was the vice president on the WIDF Bureau from Angola.{{sfn|Holness|2010|p=135}} That year, she traveled to Sweden to meet with activists of the {{ill|Svenska Kvinnors Vänsterförbund|sv}} (Swedish Women's Left-wing Association, SKV).{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=21}} Activists from the SKV provided linen and sewing machines, raised funds for the OMA, and sent care packages which included used clothes, that could be given to those in need or sold.{{sfn|Sellström|2002|p=22}} Among the many programs she fostered within the OMA were initiatives to organize laborers and teach them self-help processes to fight for equal pay of black and white workers. They organized village committees to tackle adult illiteracy, distribution problems for food and water,{{sfn|Liberation in Southern Africa|1976|p=11}} and in rural areas they also held courses on new methods of agriculture and hygiene.{{sfn|Liberation in Southern Africa|1976|p=10}} During the 1977 Congress of the MPLA, Neto was one of three women, including Maria Mambo Café and Rodeth Gil, elected to serve on the Central Committee.{{sfn|Paredes|2015|p=288}} She represented the MPLA, along with her sister-in-law Maria Eugénia Neto, in a visit to the Soviet Union the following year.{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|1978|p=1}}

Neto attended the WIDF's Leadership Training for rural women in Manila in 1979.{{sfn|WIDF|1979|p=110}} That year, the OMA established the Nadejda Krupskaya Creche in Luanda to provide child care for children and war orphans and devoted special attention to the well-being of children.{{sfn|Organization of Angolan Women|1984|p=94}} They also urged the ministry of health to expand its training for midwives and develop centers in rural areas to address high infant-mortality rates.{{sfn|Phambili|1988|pp=59–60}} Neto expressed concerns that insufficient sex and family planning education and punishments for abortion led to the deaths of women and children, and that health institutions should make such programs a priority.{{sfn|Phambili|1988|p=60}} OMA favored the elimination of polygamy and the dowry system,{{sfn|Phambili|1988|p=59}} and pushed for amendments to the Family Code to equalize rights of men and women within families and other legislation to eliminate inequalities for women's rights in both the workplace and society in general. Neto urged institutions to make more efforts to protect women's rights.{{sfn|Phambili|1988|p=60}} In March 1981, she met in Algiers with Fatma-Zohra Djeghroud, the head of the National Union of Algerian Women, to co-ordinate their recommendations on nationalist and women's struggles to be presented at the 1981 Congress of the WIDF to be held in Prague, Czechoslovakia.{{sfn|El Moudjahid|1981|p=2}} In June, she traveled to Bulgaria to attend a conference on early childhood development.{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|1981a|p=1}} She led the OMA delegation, which included Luisa Chongololo and Luzia Paim and other officers of the organization, at the October Congress.{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|1981b|p=1}}

At the First Congress of the OMA, held between 2 and 8 March 1983, the organization was restructured and Neto was elected as the secretary general.{{sfn|Organization of Angolan Women|1984|pp=22–23}}{{sfn|Paredes|2015|p=60}} She led the Angolan delegation which attended the Tenth Congress of the Portuguese Communist Party in December 1983. Speaking at the congress, she stressed the need for Angola to develop as a socialist nation. She protested the involvement of South African troops in the Angolan Civil War and reiterated that Cuban troops would not withdraw until South African aggression ended.{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|1983|p=2}} She traveled to London in 1984, to attend a protest rally denouncing South African intervention and US support for their actions. She called for peace across the continent of Africa.{{sfn|Luanda Domestic Service|1984}} Neto, Café, and Neto's sister Irene, were elected to the MPLA Central Committee in 1985.{{sfn|Brittain|1985|p=5}} That year, Neto, WIDF president Freda Brown, and women representatives for Nicaragua and the Soviet Union were awarded by Fidel Castro the {{lang|es|Orden Ana Betancourt|italics=no}} ({{ill|Order of Ana Betancourt|ru|Орден «Ана Бетанкур»}}),{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|1985|p=1}} Cuba's highest distinction for women.{{sfn|Torres Santana|Chase|2023|p=627}}{{sfn|Guerra López|González Plasencia|Hernández Denis|2010|p=343}} Neto was elected to succeed Fathia Bettahar of Algeria as the secretary general of the Pan-African Women's Organization (PAWO) in 1986.{{sfn|Serbin|Rasoanaivo-Randriamamonjy|2015|p=124}}{{#tag:ref|Although Angola had not achieved independence,{{sfn|Péclard|2021}} the MPLA sent Maria dos Anjos Nelumba and Maria Judith Santos as delegates to the founding congress of the PAWO held in July 1962, in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika.{{sfn|Serbin|Rasoanaivo-Randriamamonjy|2015|pp=122–123}}|group="Note"}} PAWO is an umbrella organization, which was designed to create a platform for women to become political activists in the African nationalist movements, through opposition to colonialism and racist policies and in favor of equality.{{sfn|Serbin|Rasoanaivo-Randriamamonjy|2015|p=82}} When African countries gained their independence and the Cold War and Apartheid ended, the focus of PAWO shifted toward peace activism and the human rights of women and girls.{{sfn|Serbin|Rasoanaivo-Randriamamonjy|2015|p=82}}

At the June 1987 WIDF Moscow congress, Neto was one of the featured speakers and gave a presentation on the organization and committees that participated in planning the event.{{sfn|WIDF|1987|pp=44–47}} In December, she traveled with other representatives of the People's Assembly to West Germany, visiting Bonn, Düsseldorf, and West Berlin, to meet with various groups to discuss developing projects for economic cooperation and fostering commerce.{{sfn|Luanda Domestic Service|1987}} At the 2nd Congress of the OMA, held in March 1988, she was re-elected as secretary general.{{sfn|Byrnes|1991|p=182}} During the 1990 Congress of the MLPA, Neto chastised President José Eduardo dos Santos, who had succeeded her brother upon his death in 1979,{{sfn|Kurian|1982|p=74}} for the lack of women in his administration. She noted that only 59 of the 700 congressional delegates were women, only one woman served in the Political Bureau, and the Central Committee had only six women members. Her comments were met by a "storm of applause" from the participants and a statement by Santos to encourage delegates to elect more women.{{sfn|BBC Focus on Africa|1990}} Neto stepped down as PAWO secretary general in 1997 and was succeeded by Assetou Koité of Senegal.{{sfn|Serbin|Rasoanaivo-Randriamamonjy|2015|p=124}} She was succeeded by Luzia Inglês Van-Dúnem as secretary general of OMA in 1999,{{sfn|Club-K|2011}}{{sfn|Televisão Pública de Angola|2021}} and until 2008, she served as the OMA's secretary of foreign relations.{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|2017}}

Legacy

In 2014, Neto was honored as a Grand Companion in the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo of South Africa for her contributions leading to the independence of Angola.{{sfn|Lubisi|2014}} Along with the first Namibian president, Sam Nujoma, Neto received the Son and Daughter of Africa Awards for the Promotion of Peace and Security in Africa in 2015 from the African Union. They were the second recipients of the distinction, which was first presented in 2014 to Tanzanian diplomats Hashim Mbita and Salim Ahmed Salim.{{sfn|African Union|2015}}{{sfn|New Era|2015}} Neto is recognized one of the founding mothers of the Pan-African Women's Organization.{{sfn|Juompan-Yakam|2021}}{{sfn|Adi|2018|pp=153–154}} Along with other past presidents Jeanne Martin Cissé, Bettahar, and the then current president Assetou Koité and other founding members, she appeared on a composite portrait that was unveiled in 2017 and is displayed alongside portraits of the heads of state of African nations at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.{{sfn|The Herald|2017}} In 2017, the Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (Portuguese Radio and Television Service)'s program {{lang|pt|Rostos}} (Faces) aired a 30-minute episode titled "Ruth Neto", presenting her biography.{{sfn|RTP|2017}} She was also honored that year in a tribute sponsored the OMA, marking her twenty-one years' service as secretary general of the organization.{{sfn|Jornal de Angola|2017}}

Notes

References

=Citations=

=Bibliography=

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{{cite news |ref={{harvid|El Moudjahid|1981}}|author= |title=Delegation of Angolan Women |url=https://archive.org/details/jprs-report_jprs-78057/page/12/mode/1up |work=El Moudjahid |agency=Algeria Press Service |date=28 March 1981 |location=Algiers, Algeria |page=2 |via=Near East/North Africa Report, No. 2328, 12 May 1981, p. 12}}
{{cite thesis |last1=Domingos |first1=Gaspar João |title=Igreja metodista: um laboratório de ensino e formação libertadora:das origens inglesas à experiência angolana e aos desafios contemporâneos |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10174/25478 |publisher=Universidade de Évora |access-date=6 January 2024 |location=Évora, Portugal |language=Portuguese |trans-title=Methodist Church: A Liberating Teaching and Training Laboratory; From English Origins to the Angolan Experience and Contemporary Challenges |date=2019 |hdl=10174/25478 |quote=Maria Ruth Neto, também em Portugal, no Seminário de Carcavelos.}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Jornal de Angola|2018}}|author= |title=Exposição inédita revela vida de Neto e da família |url=https://www.jornaldeangola.ao/ao/noticias/detalhes.php?id=412936 |access-date=6 January 2024 |work=Jornal de Angola |date=12 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106172447/https://www.jornaldeangola.ao/ao/noticias/detalhes.php?id=412936 |archive-date=6 January 2024 |location=Luanda, Angola |language=Portuguese |trans-title=Unprecedented Exhibition Reveals the Life of Neto and His Family |url-status=live}}
{{cite book |last1=Gonçalves |first1=Luis |editor1-last=Gates |editor1-first=Henry Louis |editor1-link=Henry Louis Gates Jr. |editor2-last=Akyeampong |editor2-first=Emmanuel |editor2-link=Emmanuel K. Akyeampong |editor3-last=Niven |editor3-first=Steven J. |title=Dictionary of African Biography |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001 |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, Oxfordshire |chapter=Neto, Agostinho (1922–1979) |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5}}{{subscription required |via=Oxford Reference}}
{{cite journal |last1=Gradskova |first1=Yulia |title=Women's International Democratic Federation, the 'Third World' and the Global Cold War from the Late-1950s to the Mid-1960s |journal=Women's History Review |date=2020 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=270–288 |doi=10.1080/09612025.2019.1652440 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire |issn=0961-2025 |oclc=8535230666|doi-access=free}}{{subscription required |via=Taylor & Francis}}
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{{cite news |last1=Juompan-Yakam |first1=Clarisse |title=History: 'Unruly' African Women Who Made Their Mark on the Continent |url=https://www.theafricareport.com/89163/history-unruly-african-women-who-made-their-mark-on-the-continent/ |access-date=6 January 2024 |work=The Africa Report |publisher=Jeune Afrique Media Group |date=18 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407065102/https://www.theafricareport.com/89163/history-unruly-african-women-who-made-their-mark-on-the-continent/ |archive-date=7 April 2023 |location=Paris, France |issn=1950-4810 |url-status=live}}
{{cite book |last1=Kurian |first1=George Thomas |title=Encyclopedia of the Third World |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofth0001kuri_i2p7/page/74/mode/1up |date=1982 |edition=Revised |volume=1: Afghanistan to Guinea-Bissau |publisher=Facts on File |location=New York, New York |chapter=Angola |pages=63–74 |isbn=978-0-87196-348-2}}
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{{cite magazine |ref={{harvid|BBC Focus on Africa|1990}}|author= |title=Lack of Female Representation |url=https://archive.org/details/fbis-report_fbis-afr-90-236/page/n24/mode/1up |access-date=8 January 2024 |magazine=BBC Focus on Africa |date=6 December 1990 |location=London, UK |via=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, 7 December 1990, p. 22}}
{{cite book |ref={{harvid|Liberation in Southern Africa|1976}} |author= |title=Liberation in Southern Africa: The Organization of Angolan Women |url=http://kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/50/304/32-130-47C-84-african_activist_archive-a0b1x5-a_12419.pdf |date=1976 |publisher=Chicago Committee for the Liberation of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea |location=Chicago, Illinois |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107034716/http://kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/50/304/32-130-47C-84-african_activist_archive-a0b1x5-a_12419.pdf |archive-date=7 November 2020 |oclc=3208673 |url-status=live}}
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{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Club-K|2011}} |author= |title=Luzia Inglês "Inga", SG da OMA |url=https://www.club-k.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6957:luzia-ingles-inga-sg-da-oma&catid=41004&Itemid=1079&lang=pt |website=Club-K |access-date=9 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219185546/https://www.club-k.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6957:luzia-ingles-inga-sg-da-oma&catid=41004&Itemid=1079&lang=pt |archive-date=19 February 2023 |location=Luanda, Angola |language=Portuguese |trans-title=Luzia Inglês “Inga”, SG of the OMA |date=14 February 2011 |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Jornal de Angola|1978}}|author= |title=Officials to USSR |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVlEAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Maria%20Ruth%20Neto%22%2C%20Organization%20of%20Angolan%20Women&pg=RA2-PA25 |access-date=9 January 2024 |work=Jornal de Angola |date=21 October 1978 |page=1 |location=Luanda, Angola |via=Translations on Sub-Saharan Africa, No. 2034, 8 December 1978, p. 26}}
{{cite book |author=Organization of Angolan Women |translator-last=Holmes |translator-first=Marga |editor1-last=Gough |editor1-first=Jana |title=Angolan Women Building the Future |url=https://archive.org/details/angolanwomenbuil0000unse/page/19/mode/1up |date=1984 |publisher=Zed Books |location=London, UK |isbn=978-0-86232-262-5}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Jornal de Angola|1981b}}|author= |title=OMA Delegation to Czechoslovakia |url=https://archive.org/details/jprs-report_jprs-79356/page/28/mode/1up |access-date=8 January 2024 |work=Jornal de Angola |date=6 October 1981 |page=1 |location=Luanda, Angola |via=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, 2 November 1981, p. 28}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Jornal de Angola|1985}}|author= |title=OMA Secretary General Honored |url=https://archive.org/details/jprs-report_jprs-ssa-85-041/page/16/mode/1up |access-date=8 January 2024 |work=Jornal de Angola |date=12 March 1985 |page=1 |location=Luanda, Angola |via=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, 14 May 1985, p. 16}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Jornal de Angola|2017}}|author= |title=Os momentos marcantes da homenagem a Ruth Neto |url=https://www.jornaldeangola.ao/ao/noticias/detalhes.php?id=377877 |access-date=8 January 2024 |work=Jornal de Angola |date=8 April 2017 |location=Luanda, Angola |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202194543/https://www.jornaldeangola.ao/ao/noticias/detalhes.php?id=377877 |archive-date=2 February 2022 |language=Portuguese |trans-title=The Remarkable Moments of the Tribute to Ruth Neto |url-status=live}}
{{cite book |last1=Paredes |first1=Margarida |title=Combater duas vezes: Mulheres na luta armada em Angola |url=https://archive.org/details/combater-duas-vezes/page/60/mode/1up |date=2015 |edition=1st |publisher=Verso da História |location=Aveleda, Portugal |language=Portuguese |trans-title=Fight Twice: Women in the Armed Struggle in Angola |isbn=978-989-8016-21-8}}
{{cite web |last1=Paredes |first1=Margarida |title=Rodrigues, Deolinda |url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-485 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.485 |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=African History |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, Oxfordshire |date=26 March 2019|isbn=978-0-19-027773-4}}{{subscription required |via=Oxford Research Encyclopedias}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Jornal de Angola|1981a}}|author= |title=Party Officials' Travels |url=https://archive.org/details/jprs-report_jprs-78556/page/14/mode/1up |access-date=8 January 2024 |work=Jornal de Angola |date=23 June 1981 |page=1 |location=Luanda, Angola |via=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, 20 July 1981, p. 14}}
{{Cite book|last1=Péclard |first1=Didier |title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History |chapter=Nationalism, Liberation, and Decolonization in Angola |chapter-url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-180 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.640 |access-date=6 January 2024 |via=African History |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, Oxfordshire |date=31 August 2021|isbn=978-0-19-027773-4}}{{subscription required |via=Oxford Research Encyclopedias}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Luanda Domestic Service|1987}}|author= |title=People's Assembly Delegation Visits FRG |url=https://archive.org/details/fbis-report_fbis-afr-87-236/page/n23/mode/1up |access-date=8 January 2024 |agency=Luanda Domestic Service |date=9 December 1987 |location=Luanda, Angola |via=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, 9 December 1987, p. 23}}
{{cite report |ref={{harvid|WIDF|1979}}|author= |title=Proceedings of the International Seminar On Leadership Training for Rural Women In Socio-Economic Development: Philippine International Convention Center, Manila, Philippines, 22–26, February 1979 |url=https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C911794?account_id=196403&usage_group_id=1338161 |access-date=9 January 2024 |date=1979 |publisher=Women's International Democratic Federation |location=Berlin, German Democratic Republic |oclc=7962039644}}{{subscription required |via=ASP: Women and Social Movements}}
{{cite book |last=Rothchild |first=Donald S. |title=Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Pressures and Incentives for Cooperation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kGM-5ltDHcC&pg=PA115 |date=1997 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-8157-7593-8}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Arquivo Lúcio Lara|2021}}|author= |title=Ruth Neto |url=https://www.tchiweka.org/pessoas/ruth-neto?page=1 |website=Arquivo Lúcio Lara |publisher=Associação Tchiweka de Documentação |access-date=6 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105220026/https://www.tchiweka.org/pessoas/ruth-neto?page=1 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |location=Luanda, Angola |language=Portuguese |date=2021 |url-status=live}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|RTP|2017}}|author= |title=Ruth Neto |url=https://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p34167/e11 |website=RTP |publisher=Rádio e Televisão de Portugal |access-date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105225543/https://www.rtp.pt/programa/tv/p34167/e11 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |location=Lisbon, Portugal |language=Portuguese |date=2017 |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Jornal de Angola|1983}}|author= |title=Ruth Neto Delivers Speech during Portuguese CP Congress |url=https://archive.org/details/jprs-report_jprs-ssa-84-010/page/23/mode/1up |access-date=7 January 2024 |work=Jornal de Angola |date=17 December 1983 |page=2 |location=Luanda, Angola |via=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, 24 January 1984, pp. 23–24}}
{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Catherine V. |editor1-last=Tétreault |editor1-first=Mary Ann |title=Women and Revolution in Africa, Asia, and the New World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X95R043HBJwC&pg=PA95 |date=1994 |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |location=Columbia, South Carolina |chapter=4. 'Men in our Country Behave Like Chiefs': Women and the Angolan Revolution |pages=89–110 |isbn=978-1-57003-016-1}}
{{cite book |last1=Sellström |first1=Tor |title=Formation of a Popular Opinion 1950 – 1970 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tftdYTz2Ac4C&dq=ruth%20Neto%2C%20angola&pg=PA434 |date=2003 |edition=2nd |publisher=Nordiska Afrikainstitutet |location=Uppsala, Sweden |isbn=978-91-7106-430-1}}
{{cite book |last1=Sellström |first1=Tor |editor-last1=Sellström |editor-first1=Tor |title=Liberation in Southern Africa–Regional and Swedish Voices |url=https://nai.uu.se/download/18.42a6811616faf20c57a1747e/1579859737505/91-7106-500-8.pdf |date=2002 |publisher=Nordiska Afrikainstitutet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408213123/https://nai.uu.se/download/18.42a6811616faf20c57a1747e/1579859737505/91-7106-500-8.pdf |archive-date=8 April 2023 |location=Uppsala, Sweden |chapter=Ruth Neto |pages=21–23 |isbn=978-91-7106-500-1 |url-status=live}}
{{cite book |last1=Serbin |first1=Sylvia |last2=Rasoanaivo-Randriamamonjy |first2=Ravaomalala |editor1-last=Afonso Santana |editor1-first=Ana Elisa |editor2-last=Kim |editor2-first=Hyeon Ju |editor3-last=Plouin |editor3-first=Jacques |title=African Women, Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000235230.locale=en |date=2015 |publisher=UNESCO |location=Paris, France |isbn=978-92-3-100130-7}}
{{cite journal |last1=Strippoli |first1=Giulia |title=Arriving from the Revolution: International Women's Year in the Portuguese 'Hot Summer' |journal=Women's History Review |date=2023 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1080/09612025.2023.2277485 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire |s2cid=265238111 |issn=0961-2025 |oclc=10067548753}}{{subscription required |via=Taylor & Francis}}
{{cite book |last1=Stucki |first1=Andreas |title=Violence and Gender in Africa's Iberian Colonies: Feminizing the Portuguese and Spanish Empire, 1950s–1970s |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-17230-5 |date=2019 |series=Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham, Switzerland |isbn=978-3-030-17229-9}}{{subscription required |via=SpringerLink}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|African Union|2015}}|author= |title=The 6th Retreat of Special Envoys and Mediators on Africa Convenes in Windhoek, Namibia – President Sam Nujoma and Madam Maria Ruth Neto Receive Son and Daughter of Africa Award for the Promotion of Peace and Security |url=https://www.peaceau.org/en/article/the-6th-retreat-of-special-envoys-and-mediators-on-africa-convenes-in-windhoek-namibia-president-sam-nujoma-and-madam-maria-ruth-neto-receive-son-and-daughter-of-africa-award-for-the-promotion-of-peace-and-security |website=Peace AU |publisher=African Union |access-date=9 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103162939/https://www.peaceau.org/en/article/the-6th-retreat-of-special-envoys-and-mediators-on-africa-convenes-in-windhoek-namibia-president-sam-nujoma-and-madam-maria-ruth-neto-receive-son-and-daughter-of-africa-award-for-the-promotion-of-peace-and-security |archive-date=3 November 2017 |location=Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |date=22 October 2015 |url-status=live}}
{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|Phambili|1988}}|author= |title=The Angolan Women's Organisation in the Vanguard |journal=Phambili |date=April 1988 |issue=1 |pages=57–62 |url=https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/PaApr88.1816.6180.000.003.Apr1988.pdf |access-date=9 January 2024 |publisher=Phambili Collective |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109174720/https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/sites/default/files/pdf_files/PaApr88.1816.6180.000.003.Apr1988.pdf |archive-date=9 January 2024 |location=Johannesburg, South Africa |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Herald|2017}}|author= |title=The AU Honours African Women during Commemoration of International Women's Day |url=https://www.herald.co.zw/the-au-honours-african-women-during-commemoration-of-international-womens-day/ |access-date=8 January 2024 |work=The Herald |date=15 March 2017 |location=Harare, Zimbabwe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116043934/https://www.herald.co.zw/the-au-honours-african-women-during-commemoration-of-international-womens-day/ |archive-date=16 November 2017 |url-status=live}}
{{cite book |last1=Torres Santana |first1=Ailynn |last2=Chase |first2=Michelle |editor1-last=de Haan |editor1-first=Francisca |editor-link=Francisca de Haan |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-13127-1 |date=2023 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham, Switzerland |chapter=25. Vilma Espín (1930–2007): Forging a New Woman Within the Cuban Revolution |pages=613–642 |isbn=978-3-031-13126-4|s2cid=256216914}}{{subscription required |via=SpringerLink}}
{{cite report |ref={{harvid|WIDF|1987}}|author= |title="Toward 2000--Without Nuclear Weapons! For Peace, Equality, Development": Congress Report, Moscow, USSR, June 23–27 |url=https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C1631496#page/48/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument%7C1634197 |access-date=8 January 2024 |date=1987 |publisher=Women's International Democratic Federation |location=Berlin, German Democratic Republic |oclc=827309852}}{{subscription required |via=ASP: Women and Social Movements}}
{{cite web |last1=Trovoada |first1=Maria Helena |title=Carta de Helena Trovoada a Ruth Neto |url=https://www.tchiweka.org/pessoas/ruth-neto?page=1 |website=Arquivo Lúcio Lara |publisher=Associação Tchiweka de Documentação |access-date=6 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105220026/https://www.tchiweka.org/pessoas/ruth-neto?page=1 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |location=Luanda, Angola |language=Portuguese |date=1 February 1961 |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Luanda Domestic Service|1984}}|author= |title=U.S., RSA 'Aggression' Denounced |url=https://archive.org/details/jprs-report_jprs-ssa-84-021/page/27/mode/1up |access-date=7 January 2024 |agency=Luanda Domestic Service |date=31 January 1984 |location=Luanda, Angola |via=Sub-Saharan Africa Report, 13 February 1984, p. 27}}

Category:1936 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Luanda

Category:Angolan communists

Category:Angolan women's rights activists

Category:Women's International Democratic Federation people

Category:Anti-war activists

Category:Angolan women activists

Category:20th-century Angolan women

Category:People from Portuguese Angola

Category:21st-century Angolan people

Category:Angolan independence activists