Isabel Maria Cortesão Casimiro (born 14 January 1955) is a Mozambican sociologist, women's rights activist, and a former politician. She is a professor at the Centre of African Studies, Eduardo Mondlane University in

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. She is a feminist and women's rights activist, and founder of Fórum Mulher and Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust. She was a FRELIMO Member of Parliament from 1995 to 1999.

Early life

Isabel Maria Casimiro was born on 14 January 1955 in Iapala, a small village in Nampula Province, on the north-east coast of Mozambique. Her father was a medical doctor based at the railway station in Iapala. Her parents had moved to Mozambique in 1952, because they were members of the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

, which had been declared illegal by the government, so they were effectively "exiled" to what was then one of Portugal's overseas colonies.

Career

From 1995 to 1999 Casimiro was a Member of Parliament, representing FRELIMO, the Mozambique Liberation Front. Casimiro is the founder, and president from 2006 to 2015, of Fórum Mulher. Casimiro is the founder and the first national coordinator of the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust (WLSA), based in Mozambique, and since 2015 she has been WLSA's Mozambique board president. Casimiro is a sociology professor at the Centre of African Studies, Eduardo Mondlane University in

, where she specialises in women's and human rights, feminist movements, development issues, and participatory democracy.

References

Living people 21st-century Mozambican women politicians 21st-century Mozambican politicians Mozambican sociologists Academic staff of the Eduardo Mondlane University Women sociologists FRELIMO politicians People from Nampula Province Mozambican feminists 1955 births 20th-century Mozambican women politicians 20th-century Mozambican politicians {{Mozambique-politician-stub