Maria da Graça Samo
Maria da Graça Samo (born 1968 in Inhambane, Mozambique) is a global women's rights activist. Since 2013, Samo has been the international coordinator for the World March of Women (WMW) which is a feminist, anti-patriarchal, anti-capitalist, anti-globalization, anti-colonialist movement that aims to address the root causes of poverty and violence against women. Early life Graça Samo was born in Inhambane, Mozambique in 1968, and is the eighth of 13 children. Her mother was a farmer and father a schoolteacher. Samo learned Portuguese from her father while her mother taught her native Xitsua. Catholicism was important in Samo's upbringing, faith, and education as both her parents were heavily religious. During Samo's upbringing, war spread throughout Mozambique from their political support of the African National Congress (ANC) against apartheid in South Africa. Discrimination that Samo witnessed and experienced growing up became the driving force behind her determination to work for women's rights and gender equality. Samo graduated with a Master of Science degree in Education for Sustainability. Samo also completed graduate studies in Business Administration. Career From 2004 to 2009, Samo was a professor in the Department of Management, Science, and Technology at the Polytechnic University in Mozambique. Samo has worked in