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.Richard Bradshaw & Juan Fandos-Rius (2016) Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic p434Marthe Matongo, député Centrafrique le défi Her father Michel was a teacher, and Matongo became one of the first girls in Ubangi-Shari to earn a primary school certificate. She subsequently studied in France and became a social worker. At independence in 1960 her cousin Florence Yagbao became the inaugural First Lady of the Central African Republic.
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.Bradshaw & Fandos-Rius, p640 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. The National Assembly was subsequently dissolved in 1966 following the Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état.
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