Dorcas Ewokolo Idowu (born 27 August 1903) was a Cameroonian politician. She was the first woman to sit in the

Southern Cameroons The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British Empire, British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Re ...

House of Assembly, and the first female parliamentarian in what is now

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Biography

Idowu was born in 1903, the daughter of Joseph Lifanjo Ekema.''Who's who in Nigeria'', 1956, p164 She married Thomas Faguma Idowu and worked as a teacher at the government school in

Buea Buea is the capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The city is located in Fako Division, on the eastern slopes of Mount Cameroon, and has a population of 300,000 (at the 2013 Census). It has two Government Hotels, the Mountain Hotel and P ...

.Emmanuel Konde (2005) ''African Women and Politics: Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Male-dominated Cameroon'', p121 A member of the

Kamerun National Congress The Kamerun National Congress (KNC) was a political party in Southern Cameroons. History The KNC was established in 1952 as a merger of two pro-unification parties, the Kamerun United National Congress and the Cameroons National Federation.Mark ...

, Idowu was appointed to the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly in July 1955 as a member representing women's interests, becoming the first female parliamentarian in Cameroon. She remained a member until 1959.Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué (2019
''Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon''
p43

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Idowu, Dorcas 1903 births Cameroonian educators 20th-century Cameroonian women politicians 20th-century Cameroonian politicians Members of the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly Kamerun National Congress politicians Date of death unknown