Biyémi Brigitte Brym
Biyémi Brigitte Brym (born 1931), also known as Biyémi Brigitte Brym-Kekeh, is a Togolese lawyer and politician. In the early 1960s, she became the first female magistrate in Togo.
Biography
Biyémi Brigitte Brym was born in Lomé, Togo, in 1931.{{Cite book |last1=Marguerat |first1=Yves |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LJUPAQAAMAAJ |title=Si Lomé m'était contée--: dialogues avec les vieux Loméens |last2=Pelei |first2=Tchitchékou |date=1992 |publisher=Presses de l'Université du Bénin |isbn=978-2-909886-11-4 |language=fr}} She completed primary and secondary school in Lomé at what would become the Lycée Bonnecarrère.
Around 1960, Brym began practicing law and became the first female magistrate in Togo.{{Cite book |last=Gayibor |first=Nicoué Lodjou |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fqvx7IbdPEQC&pg=PA152 |title=Histoire des Togolais: Des origines aux années 1960. Le refus de l'ordre colonial |date=2011-06-01 |publisher=KARTHALA Editions |isbn=978-2-8111-0487-0 |language=fr}}{{Cite book |last=Gayibor |first=Nicoué Lodjou |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLowAQAAIAAJ |title=Le tricentenaire d'Aného et du pays guin: Société, culture et développement en pays guin |date=2001 |publisher=Presses de l'UB |isbn=978-2-909886-48-0 |language=fr}} She was also among the first magistrates to come from Togo, as at that time the majority of those practicing in the country were originally from France.
She later became the first woman to serve as president of the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court of Togo. She is also one of Togo's earliest female government ministers, having been appointed by President Gnassingbé Eyadéma as secretary of state for women's issues in the late 1970s.{{Cite web |date=1982-07-16 |title=Décret n°82-112 du 24 avril 1982 portant promotions et nominations dans l'ordre du Mono |url=https://jo.gouv.tg/sites/default/files/annee/1982/jo%201982-020.pdf |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Journal officiel de la République togolaisse |page=422 |language=fr}}{{Cite web |date=1978 |title=Liste des delegués, représentants et observateurs |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000254091 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=UNESCO}}{{Cite journal |last=Agnélé |first=Lassey |date=2017 |title=Les femmes et le syndicalisme au Togo de 1990 à 2006 |url=https://ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/AfricanaStudia/article/view/7607/6975 |journal=Africana Studia |language=fr |publisher=Edição do Centro de Estudos Africanos da Universidade do Porto |volume=28}}
In 1982, she was named a commander in the Togolese Order of Mono.