Aoua Keita and the nascent women's movement in the French Soudan

Aoua Keita's autobiography 'Femme d'Afrique' reveals the participation of women in the independence of French Sudan, now Mali. Keita worked with the Union Soudanaise du Rassemblement Democratique Africain to give women the right to participate in social, economic and political contexts. The African women's movement differed from Western feminism in that the goals included freedom to choose husbands and family planning. Keita believed the women's movement started as a response to both patriarchical colonialism and bureaucratic lack of attention to women's needs within the independence movement.