Dorcas Idowu

Dorcas Idowu
Nominated Member of the House of Assembly
In office
1955–1959
Succeeded byJosepha Mua
Personal details
Born27 August 1903

Dorcas Ewokolo Idowu (born 27 August 1903) was a Cameroonian politician. She was the first woman to sit in the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly, and the first female parliamentarian in what is now Cameroon.

Biography

Idowu was born in 1903, the daughter of Joseph Lifanjo Ekema.[1] She married Thomas Faguma Idowu and worked as a teacher at the government school in Buea.[1][2]

A member of the Kamerun National Congress,[2] Idowu was appointed to the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly in July 1955 as a member representing women's interests,[1] becoming the first female parliamentarian in Cameroon.[2] She remained a member until 1959.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Who's who in Nigeria, 1956, p164
  2. ^ a b c Emmanuel Konde (2005) African Women and Politics: Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Male-dominated Cameroon, p121
  3. ^ Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué (2019) Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon p43