ABSTRACT
The Hindu community of Santo Antonio dos Cavaleiros possesses a cohesive group structure, in part owing to diversified aspects of cultural reproduction, carried out almost exclusively by women, whose activity is essential for consolidation of the group's collective identity. The development by women of empowerment strategies through attempting to equal men in performance of ritual tasks is not exclusive to the diaspora. Neither is transforming ritual practices connected to gender status. Nevertheless, diasporic setting is propitious in effecting the emergence of new ritual tasks bestowed upon women who thus gain privileges over religious activity and ritual practice. The settlement of Hindus in Portugal dates back to the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. Women's role in Hindu cultural transmission is a constant element throughout different diasporas. Marriage within the caste or at least within the religious community is one of the principles of female conduct, just as are tasks most obviously connected with domestic family space.
