Saturday, May 16, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
RIGHTS-BENIN: Women no Longer Rare but Still Few in Government
Ali Gadanga
- What’s different about a new cabinet formed this month in Benin is that it has more women than before, but the West African nation still has a long way to go before the gender imbalance in its state bodies is eliminated.
When the reshuffled cabinet was announced on May 15, the some 5.7 million Beninois found that medical doctor Marina d’Almeida Massougbodji, formerly minister of health, social welfare and women’s affairs, was no longer the only woman in the government. Three others had been appointed by President Matthieu Kerekou, bringing their number to four out of a total of 18 ministers.
The number of women in government has see-sawed since 1989 when Rafiatou Karimou became the first woman to become a minister in Benin, a former French colony that became independent in 1960.
Nicephore Soglo, who became prime minister after a national conference ended military rule in 1990, had two women in his government of transition (1990-1991).
Soglo went on to become president in 1991. During his five-year term, the number of women in government rose to three and then four, before dropping to one after Kerekou won presidential polls in 1996. Now, the number has once again gone up to four.
The Health Ministry has been headed by a woman ever since Soglo’s tenure, amd trade also had a woman minister during the reign of the former president. The other two ministries not headed by men are Social Welfare and Women’s Affairs, which used to be linked to Health, and Education.
Of the new ministers, only two are from political parties: Social Welfare and Women’s Affairs Minister Ramatou Baba Moussa, heads a small party not represented in parliament and Massougbodi, linked to the Social Democratic Party (PSD), lectures in cardiology at the University of Benin.
Baba Moussa, a former teacher and administrator, told journalists after her nomination that she had always “struggled for the promotion of women in our country”. She said she hoped that women, whom she described as marginalised although they were 52 percent of the country’s population, would take their destiny in hand.
Minister of National Education and Scientific Research Conceptia Ouinsou, who is of Haitian origin and a Beninoise by marriage, is also a former university lecturer.
She was the chair of the Benin chapter of the Nairobi-based Forum of African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and is one of five representatives of civil society included in the cabinet.
Ouinsou said she would strive to hold broad consultations with all parties seeking after the same goals as she: rigour and firmness in the execution of governmental decisions and transparent management.
Attorney Marie-Elise Gbedo, Minister of Trade, Artisanry and Tourism, a specialist in corporate law, is another civil-society representative in the cabinet. She is vice president of the Association of Women Lawyers of Benin and secretary general of the Union of Lawyers of Benin.
Even with the increase, women are still a small minority in the cabinet, comprising less than 25 percent of its members. They are also outnumbered in the country’s constitutional court, whose seven members, five of them men, were appointed over the weekend.
The imbalance is even worse in other state bodies such as the National Assembly, which has only six women out of 82 parliamentarians.
And there is only one woman in each of two other institutions provided for by the constitution: the Economic and Social Council and the Higher Audiovisual and Communication Authority.
Benin still has no well defined national policy for bringing about gender equity. The Ministry of Social Security and Women’s Affairs is now drawing up a draft policy on the promotion of women, based on the recommendations of the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, in coordination with women’s organisations
In the meantime, a family code that seeks to improve the situation of women is now being studied by the national assembly.
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