Célestine Ouezzin Coulibaly

[1][2] Ouezzin Coulibaly was one of those who led some 1,500 women in a march to the prison at Grand-Bassam on 24 December 1949, calling for the release of their husbands who, as members of the PDCI-RDA independence movement, had been jailed without trial by the French colonial authorities.

[4] Together with fellow leaders Anne-Marie Raggi, Marguérite Sacoum, Odette Yacé and Marie Koré, she can therefore be considered one of the pioneers of the independence of the Ivory Coast.

Although his death probably played an important part in her appointment, as a trained schoolteacher and one of the country's few literate women, she was in fact fully qualified for the position.

[6] After she left the position in 1959, despite becoming the first female member of the national assembly,[7] the fact that she did not obtain a government post after Upper Volta's independence in 1960 could be considered a backward step for the political role of women.

[8] Representing Upper Volta, Ouezzin Coulibaly was elected to the senate of the French Community on 30 April 1959 where she sat on the Committee for Transport and Telecommunications.