Marie-Paule Djegue Okri
{{Short description|Ivorian agriculturist and activist (born 1993)}}
Marie-Paule Djegue Okri (born 1993) is an agriculturist and human rights activist from Ivory Coast. She is the winner of the 2024 Simone de Beauvoir Prize.
Early Life and Education
Okri was born in 1993 in Issia, Ivory Coast, to a father who had 14 children. Her mother was uneducated, but her father pushed her and her other siblings to study. When she was a teenager, her father died, but her uncles continued to help her complete her higher education.{{Cite web |last=Fair |first=La rédaction de Vanity |date=2021-05-05 |title=Marie Paul Okri, l'esprit libre d'Abidjan |url=https://www.vanityfair.fr/pouvoir/politique/story/raise-your-voices-marie-paule-okri-abidjan/13878 |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Vanity Fair |language=fr-FR}}
Okri is an agriculturist and an agroecology consultant. She studied tropical agriculture with a specialization in plant breeding at the International Academy of Sciences and Technology in Abidjan and trained as an agricultural engineer at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture between 2022 and 2024.{{Cite web |date=2024-01-11 |title=Ivorian activist fighting for women's freedom wins Simone de Beauvoir Prize |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20240111-ivorian-activist-fighting-for-women-s-freedom-wins-simone-de-beauvoir-prize |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=RFI |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Nartey |first=Stephen |date=2024-01-12 |title=Ivorian activist wins the prestigious Simone de Beauvoir Prize for championing women's freedom |url=https://face2faceafrica.com/article/ivorian-activist-wins-the-prestigious-simone-de-beauvoir-prize-for-championing-womens-freedom |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Face2Face Africa |language=en}}
Activity
In 2020, she founded the Ivorian Women's Rights League,{{Cite web |last=Maria |date=2024-09-13 |title=Marie-Paule Okri, women's rights activist - Côte d'Ivoire |url=https://africa-on-air.com/en/society/2024/09/marie-paule-okri-militante-des-droits-des-femmes-cote-divoire/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Africa on air |language=en-US}} which began it's activity as a facebook page in social media. There, she fights for the economic and financial independence of women in rural areas in Ivory Coast. The league encourages women to leave the informal sector and engage in income-generating activities, mainly in the agricultural sector. Economic independence is seen as a way to combat domestic violence by providing women with the means to escape violent homes. She also promotes education for girls and young women across Ivory Coast, especially in rural areas.
Her feminist commitment is part of an Afro-feminist perspective that recognizes the specific struggles of African women. Marie-Paule Okri does not consider feminism as a universal struggle but as a struggle in context, taking into account local realities and traditions.{{Cite web |last=LMC |date=2020-03-07 |title=Paysanne, agro-écologiste et féministe, l'activiste Marie Paule Okri se dévoile |url=https://www.lemediacitoyen.com/paysanne-agro-ecologiste-et-feministe-l-activiste-marie-paule-okri-se-devoile/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Le Mediacitoyen.com |language=fr-FR}}{{Cite web |title=Marie-Paule Djegue Okri, Ligue ivoirienne des droits des femmes - Prix Simone de Beauvoir pour la liberté des femmes |url=https://www.prixsimonedebeauvoir.com/Marie-Paule-Djegue-Okri-Ligue-ivoirienne-des-droits-des-femmes.html |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=www.prixsimonedebeauvoir.com}}
Prizes
January 2024, she won Simone de Beauvoir Prize for her work for gender equality in Africa.{{Cite web |title=Fighting for Female Farmers in West Africa |url=https://www.afd.fr/en/actualites/fighting-female-farmers-west-africa |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=www.afd.fr |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2025-04-19 |title=Ivorian activist wins the prestigious Simone de Beauvoir Prize for championing women's freedom - Face2Face Africa |url=https://ground.news/article/ivorian-activist-wins-the-prestigious-simone-de-beauvoir-prize-for-championing-womens-freedom-face2face-africa |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Ground News |language=en}}