Leopoldville 1949 – Speakerine Pauline Lisanga

This International Women’s Day we remember Congolese women who pushed the boundaries of traditional roles in the years before Independence in 1960. 

At twenty-three, Pauline Lisanga in 1949 became the first female announcer for Radio Congo Belge’s (RCB) new service for Africans. Born in Leopoldville of a family from Lisala, she attended primary school and two years of Ecole Menagère, then taught primary school in the city. Along with Marie-Louise Mombila and Marie-Josee Angebi, who joined RCB in 1951 and 1955 respectively, they were “top of the charts”. At Independence in 1960, Pauline was Vice President of the Mouvement des Femmes du Congo and in 1961 named Director of Radio Services in the Ministry of Information. Mamas Mombila and Angebi remained with RTNC and in 1966 created and co-hosted an oldies request show called “Tango ya ba Wendo”.

Pauline at the microphones

Other women contributed the female voice to RCB’s programming. Here Anne Kitambala, Anne Marie Matasu and Marguerite Elanga plan a radio sketch in the 1950s with Albert Mongita, who also joined the radio in 1949.

Planning the radio sketch in the studio

Victorine Ndjoli Elonga was the first woman in Kinshasa to obtain a driver’s license in 1955. Also a graduate of the Franciscan Sisters Ecole Menagère, she tired of making baby clothes and hats at the foyer social and did some modeling for advertisements – bicycles and powdered milk among others. At 21, against the wishes of the male members of her family, she enrolled in the driver’s education school. She told David Van Reybrouck in 2008 that afterwards, he father was proud of her. After Independence, “Mama Vicky” went into politics and remained a figure in women’s empowerment until her death in 2015.

Victorine at the wheel the day of her driver test

The dents in the car body were made by her male predecessors

Other women may be anonymous in the photographic record but their ambition and accomplishments merit recognition.

Nursing students at the Ecole des Assistants Medicaux in the 1950s

Sales clerks in a Leopoldville store

Shoe sellers at Bata

Women marching in support of political candidate Albert Kalonji in June 1960

Congolese nuns on Blvd. Albert opposite Hotel Regina in 1961

Red Cross volunteers prepare for a smallpox vaccination campaign in February 1962

Educate a woman and you educate a nation.
Parents enroll their daughters in school in Matete Commune.

Students at the Ecole Professionnelle des Filles in 1957

Into the future.
School girls parade on Independence Day, June 30, 1960