Alves joined the Republican League of Portuguese Women, which both sought the end of the Portuguese monarchy and advocated for women's suffrage. She was a founding member of the feminist "Conselho Nacional das Mulheres Portuguesas" (National Council of Portuguese Women - CNMP) in 1914, and was largely responsible for establishing linkages with prominent figures of the international feminist movement. In 1914 there was intense correspondence between Alves and the National Council of French Women (CNFF) and the International Council of Women (ICW) general secretaries, Avril de Sainte-Croix and Alice Salomon, as well as with other feminists such as Lady Aberdeen and Carrie Chapman Catt.