Lalla Mariam Bint Moulaye Idriss (; born in 1957) is a

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

n politician. Born in

Ayoun el Atrous Ayoun al Atrous (also known as Aioun el Atrouss) () is a town in southern Mauritania. It is located at around . It is the capital of Hodh El Gharbi region. The city is served by the Aioun el Atrouss Airport, north-west of the city. The town ...

, she began her studies in that town before continuing them in

Nouakchott Nouakchott ( ) is the capital and largest city of Mauritania. Located in the southwestern part of the country, it is one of the largest cities in the Sahara. The city also serves as the administrative and economic center of Mauritania. Once a ...

, eventually gaining a doctoral degree in

financial engineering Financial engineering is a multidisciplinary field involving financial theory, methods of engineering, tools of mathematics and the practice of programming. It has also been defined as the application of technical methods, especially from mathe ...

. In 1987, President Maao uya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, desiring to "correct countless managerial mistakes committed in the past", named Idriss as one of three women appointed to the cabinet, in which she served as Associate Director of the presidential cabinet. The other two were Khadijatou Bint Ahmed, who as Minister of Mines and Industry became the first woman cabinet Minister in the country's history, and N'Deye Tabar Fall, who became the General-Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. She served in the role until 1995. Beginning in 2007, she led the ''Conseil d’Administration de L’Agence mauritanienne d’information'', the official information agency of Mauritania. She ran in the 2014 presidential election, in which she was the only female candidate; at the time she had already spent more than twenty years of her career in government service. Her platform was focused largely on bringing more visibility to issues affecting women in Mauritania. During the campaign, she admitted that total transparency was impossible to achieve given the constrictions of Mauritanian society and the influence of tribal elders on the political system. Ultimately, she came in last in the election, in which she ran as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. Idriss is married, and she has four children.

References

1957 births Living people Government ministers of Mauritania 20th-century Mauritanian women politicians 20th-century Mauritanian politicians 21st-century Mauritanian women politicians 21st-century Mauritanian politicians People from Hodh El Gharbi region Women government ministers of Mauritania {{Mauritania-politician-stub