She played an active role in Portuguese feminist organizations and was an opponent of the Estado Novo dictatorship, which ruled between 1933 and 1974.

Francine Germaine Van Gool Benoît was born in Périgueux in the Dordogne department of France on 30 July 1894, to a Belgian mother and a French father.

[1][2][3] Back in Portugal, she was invited by Maria Rey Colaço to conduct the Choral Society of Lisbon (Canto Coral de Lisboa).

To support her mother and herself after her father's death in 1914, she also worked as a pianist at Lisbon's Olympia cinema, accompanying silent films.

However, her application, and the entire competition, were cancelled, on the grounds that Benoît had not had Portuguese nationality for more than five years, although there was nothing in the rules to indicate that this was a requirement.

She did, however, succeed in obtaining teaching and lecturing positions at a wide variety of schools and colleges, and gave private lessons until the last days of her life.

The lectures she gave addressed a wide range of topics, including biographies of composers and other aspects of the history of music.

Many of her compositions were modern, in some cases being close to atonal, but she also composed music for children drawing on more traditional inspiration, such as the songs of Mozart and Beethoven.

[1][3][4] Benoît joined the Movement of Democratic Unity (MUD), which was founded in 1945 as an umbrella organization for opponents to the Estado Novo, but was closed down in 1948, probably because it became dominated by the Communist Party.

This made life in conservative Portugal very difficult, with condemnation coming from fellow communists as much as from the wider society.

Given the difficulty faced by women seeking to lead an independent life Gomes, despite her sexual orientation, married Vitorino Nemésio, with whom she had four children.