After historic bylaw change, Madeiran feast committee and club to allow female members
NEW BEDFORD – It’s been a decades-long battle, but women will now be allowed to serve as festeiras (committee members) of the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament alongside their male counterparts, and ultimately become members of the Clube Madeirense S.S. Sacramento, Inc., the organization which sponsors the annual staple celebration in New Bedford.
On April 28, the club voted to amend its bylaws to include women, passing the measure with 116 votes to 21.
The historic vote was held six months after an unsuccessful attempt to change the bylaws took place on Oct. 29, when the vote was split 50-50. For the change to be approved, 75 percent of the club’s general assembly had to agree to the motion.
“This is huge for me; my great-grandfather was a festeiro in the 1930s,” said Tara George, one of the women who stepped up to fight this battle. “My grandmother could not carry on the tradition… and now I’m able to carry on that tradition that she couldn’t. I have worked with the Peixoto family for years. They’ve become my feast family. We’re all going to be able to serve this August, all the women in that family, and it’s such an honor.”
Jane Gonsalves said she had her doubts on Sunday about the vote’s outcome, but now she cannot be more excited to follow the footsteps of her father and plans to serve alongside her brother next year.
“It was a great feeling,” she said. “I’ve been asking the various feast members, over a span of the last 26 years, when they’re going to allow women to join.”
Gonsalves, whose paternal grandfather was born in Santa Cruz, Madeira, noted she has been speaking up about this issue since 1998, when the sons of Madeiran mothers were allowed to join the club. Until then, only Madeiran born adult males or their male descendants were allowed on feast and club committees.
“I’ve been trying to fight this since then,” said the former New Bedford city councilor.
On Sunday, George, Gonsalves and a few other women met for breakfast and then headed to Madeira Field, where they patiently waited on the sidewalk outside of the gate for the voting results.
“And then we got the text message that it passed,” George said. “There were definitely tears of joy. When I saw David Peixoto, who is like a father to me, I immediately hugged him. I just started to cry because I was just so overjoyed and happy that this is finally going to happen. His mom is going to be 88. Her father started the feast. She’s never been able to serve. Her brothers, sons, nephews, grandson have all served. Now, she’s going to be able to serve with her granddaughters.”
Bylaw change follows threat of a lawsuit
After the Oct. 29 vote failed, the “Support The Daughters of Madeira” Facebook group was created to garner support to allow women to serve as festeiras and become club members.
More than 30 women also submitted applications to become festeiras, according to Gonsalves.
George also noted that she and Gonsalves addressed the club’s Board of Directors in January trying to garner their support.
When the club did not take any action, Gonsalves along with George and several other women joined forces and hired Attorney Adrienne Catherine H. Beauregard-Rheaume, who threatened the club with a lawsuit, alleging gender discrimination.
“Thrilled is an understatement in terms of how I feel and how my clients feel,” Atty. Beauregard-Rheaume told O Jornal on Monday. “This is what they wanted the whole time. The last thing that they wanted to have to do was to put this into litigation because they knew how disruptive that could be to the club and how divisive. My clients were willing to do that if they had to, and we’re just happy that they didn’t have to, and the club ended up doing the right thing.”
But if the case had gone to court, Beauregard-Rheaume said there was “very solid ground” to argue it as unconstitutional.
“I frankly thought that it would be nothing short of a slam dunk in court,” she said.
The backlash of a lawsuit against the club could have serious consequences. It could not only potentially divide membership and create significant legal expenses, but also shy away sponsors and the club would be under high scrutiny because discovery would be conducted. If illegal practice was found, the club could lose its non-profit status.
“I think that’s why it took so long for it to get to this stage because nobody wanted to see that happen,” said Beauregard-Rheaume. “They are a very strong community - the women and the men. And they are passionate about their heritage and this celebration of their heritage. But women just wanted to be a part of it; they wanted to be equals.”
Coincidently, Beauregard-Rheaume found out on Monday that her husband’s uncle - the late Dartmouth Selectman Leonard “Lenny” Gonsalves - was a former member of the club.
“My husband’s aunt reached out to me and said, ‘you know, when they asked me to march, I told them I wasn’t going to because they forced the women to march behind the men in the parade,” Beauregard-Rheaume said. “Lenny actually brought this up at a meeting. This was decades ago, and that year was the first year the women were allowed to march alongside their husbands. I think it’s pretty neat I ended up marrying his nephew and I got to help these women.”
Feast President Tony Abreu welcomes the bylaw change
This year’s Feast of the Blessed Sacrament President Tony Abreu said he was very happy with the way the vote turned out.
“I have been very vocal right from the beginning about how I was for the change,” he said. “I grew up in a household pretty much where I was the only male. So, I have absolutely no doubt that women are able, willing, and competent enough to do anything that a male can. For me, it was a given that I would support the issue.”
He said he is very excited to welcome women to the feast committee, and he has heard from about 20 women who decided to join already this year.
“If they have put in an application, they are given the option to serve this year,” he explained. “If they would like to wait until next year or the year after, they can also do that. We’re also giving the option to any woman of Madeiran heritage whose family is already on the committee but maybe have not put in an application that they will also be accepted this year.”
Just like the men, women will have to first serve on a feast committee to be eligible for full membership in the Clube Madeirense S. S. Sacramento Inc., Abreu said.
“These ladies now will be ex facto members, so they'll be able to attend the regular club meetings,” he said. “They'll be attending the feast committee meetings and subcommittee meetings. And now they can also attend the General Assembly meeting of the club. They just can’t vote, just like a new male member who also would not be able to vote until he completes his first year as a festeiro… you don’t necessarily have to join the club after you serve. It’s a choice you have.”
O Jornal also reached out to Steven Duarte - the chief proponent of the bylaw change presented for a vote last October, who also serves as the club’s public relations chairman - for a comment. However, a comment was not received in time for publication because Duarte was traveling abroad.
Timothy Rodrigues, the club’s president, also did not answer a request for comment in time for publication.
‘This is about family’
George expressed her gratitude to Attorney Beauregard-Rheaume and had one final message for the 21 men who voted against the bylaw change.
“Without her, this would not have happened… having her in our corner was extremely instrumental,” George said. “To the 21 men that voted against allowing this change in the bylaws, I really hope that they’re able to accept women into the club, and I hope that we’re all able to work together because this is about family. Every single one of those women on that sidewalk was related to a man in that room. So, a no vote is a vote against your mother, if she’s Madeiran, your wife, if she’s Madeiran, your daughter, your nieces. It’s time that we finally all come together as a family.”
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Madeiran feast committee and club now open to female members
