Nilcéa Freire (1952-2019) was a Brazilian feminist activist, politician, and academic. She was presented with the Magna Grecia International Award in 2003. A staunch advocate for the rights of women and underrepresented minorities in the country, her life and work have carried a long history of struggles and victories:

"While resisting, we must continue to strive for progress, and what we can achieve right now will be through the wonderful organization of young women, in all the state capitals and in the big cities of Brazil."

She was born in Rio de Janeiro to a family of Apulian origin on her mother’s side. She enrolled at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 1972 but was forced to put her studies on hold shortly thereafter due to her active participation in student protests. During this time, she was exiled to Mexico, then returned to Brazil to finish her studies and graduate in Medical Sciences in 1978, after a year of study at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

At the beginning of 1988, Fréire became part of the university administration. She enrolled in a master's degree in Zoology at the UFRJ National Museum, conducting research on the parasites indigenous of Brazil.

In 1992, she attended the University Leadership Course in Canada sponsored by the Council of Rectors of Brazilian Universities and the Organization of American States, which enabled her to become, upon her return, Director of Planning and Budgeting for the UFRJ. In 1996 she was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University and, in 1999, she became Dean and requested the UFRJ to provide places dedicated to low-income black students.

In the autumn of 2002, the Province of Rome, in collaboration with the Magna Grecia International Association chaired by Nino Foti, carried out an important territorial marketing operation, signing six Memoranda of Understanding with as many Brazilian institutions, contributing to the promotion of culture and the development of the economy of the Roman provincial territory. On that occasion, Dean Freire hosted the Italian delegation of the Magna Gracia International Association at the Headquarters of the UFRJ for the signing of the Protocol of Technical-Cultural Collaboration with the Province of Rome and the inauguration of the exhibition of provincial tourist printed matter set up at the same University.

Between 2002 and 2004, Nilcéa Freire chaired the State Board of Education in Rio de Janeiro.

Despite being affiliated with the Workers' Party, Fréire was only involved in feminist issues in 2004, when she was sworn in as Special Secretariat for Women's Policies during the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. She then began her political activity, holding her first National Conference on Women's Policies which was attended by over 120,000 women from all over the country.

The National Plan of Policies for Women was drafted as a result of the consultation and focused on policies aimed at improving the status of women.

Because of her success, she served as president of the Inter-American Commission on Women from 2005 to 2007, overseeing international efforts for gender equality. In 2008, she was involved in debates on abortion rights, during which she advocated that the right to choose should belong to women and their partners.

Coming to the end of her political career in 2010, Freire joined the Ford Foundation as a representative in Rio de Janeiro and oversaw the Foundation's efforts in Brazil to expand opportunity and justice to underrepresented Brazilians, particularly Afro-Brazilians and indigenous peoples.

She died at the age of 66, in Rio de Janeiro, in 2019.