Fatou Djibo (27 April 1927 - 6 April 2016) was a

Nigerien The demographic features of Nigeriens, the people of Niger, consist of population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. The largest ethnic groups ...

women's rights activist,

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, educator and

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist. She was President of the Union des Femmes du Niger and was also the first woman from

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

to drive a car.

Biography

Born Fadima Hassane Diallo on 27 April 1927, Djibo's father was Chief Djagourou, a traditional ruler appointed by the French colonial administration to the district leader of

Téra Téra is a city in the Tillabéri Region, Tera Department of Niger. It is situated 175 km north-west of the capital Niamey, close to the border with Burkina Faso. It is mainly inhabited by Songhai, Fulani, Gourmantche and Buzu ethnic gro ...

where she was born. In a step that was unusual at the time, he sent his daughter, when she was seven years old, to the newly opened primary school in Téra and as result was one of the first Nigerian girls to go to school. She continued her education at the higher elementary school in the capital

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

and finally at the teacher training institute

École normal de Rufisque École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

in Senegal. She graduated with distinction in 1946. In the same year she married the teacher Djibo Yacouba with whom she had eight children. From 1946 to 1966, Djibo worked as a primary school teacher, initially in

Fada N'Gourma Fada N'gourma, also written Fada-Ngourma or Noungu, is a city and an important market town in eastern Burkina Faso, lying east of Ouagadougou, in the Gourmantché area. It is the capital of the Est Region and Gourma Province, and is also the sea ...

and later in Maradi,

Zinder Zinder (locally, ''Damagaram''), formerly also spelled Sinder, is the third largest city in Niger, with a population of 235,605 as by the 2012 census. It is situated east of the capital Niamey and north of the Nigerian city of Kano. History ...

Tillabéri Tillabéri (var. Tillabéry) is a town in the extreme west of Niger. It is situated northwest of the capital Niamey on the River Niger. It is an important market town and administrative center, being the capital of department of Tillabéri and ...

and

. In 1954 she was Niger's first woman driver. Djibo founded the women's organization Union des Femmes du Niger (UFN) on 7 March 1959, which she chaired for many years. In 1962 she led a delegation from the union to Cairo. During the First Republic (1960–1974) she was the face of the public for the concerns of women in Niger. She argued that the development of a country cannot be complete without the

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

of women and that the degradation and humiliation of women must be stopped by appropriate laws. At the same time she saw the primary task of the Nigerien woman as the educator of the citizens of the future. In 1969 Djibo followed her husband to Brussels when he was appointed ambassador. After his death in 1968 she returned to Niger, where she became treasurer of the

Lycée Kassaï School In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

in Niamey. In 1971, she was also deputy treasurer of the

Union of Workers' Trade Unions of Niger The Union of Workers' Trade Unions of Niger (USTN) is a national trade union center in Niger. Formed in 1960 as the ''Union Nationale des Travailleurs du Niger (UNTN)'', the union was renamed in 1978 as the USTN. The 1988 establishment of the N ...

. In 1978 she officially thanked the USSR for its gift of medicines and medical instruments to the Niger Red Cross. In 1979 she attended an international workshop on women and leadership. Djibo retired in 1983 and continued to volunteer for trade unions, the Red Cross and other organizations. She died in Niamey on 6 April 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Djibo, Fatou 2016 deaths 1927 births Nigerien trade unionists Feminists Nigerien women in politics Women trade unionists Nigerien educators