Marthe Matongo
Central African social worker, politician and women's rights activist (born 1933)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marthe Matongo (born 30 April 1933) was a Central African social worker, politician and women's rights activist. In 1964 she became the first woman elected to the National Assembly.
Biography
Matongo was born into a Gbanzili family in Bambari in April 1933.[1][2] Her father Michel was a teacher, and Matongo became one of the first girls in Ubangi-Shari to earn a primary school certificate.[1] She subsequently studied in France and became a social worker.[1] At independence in 1960 her cousin Florence Yagbao became the inaugural First Lady of the Central African Republic.[3]
A member of the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa (MESAN), Matongo was a candidate in the 1964 parliamentary elections. MESAN was the sole legal party and ran unopposed, resulting in Matongo becoming the first woman in the National Assembly.[4] In the same year she was one of the founders of the Union of Central African Women, becoming its secretary general, and broadcast a radio programme Magazine of the Women.[1] The National Assembly was subsequently dissolved in 1966 following the Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état.
