Gender equality in Senegal

Last updated

Senegal's typically patriarchal society dictates that women traditionally take care of the household duties such as cooking, cleaning, gathering water and firewood, and caring for children. and that men are in charge of the house. In Senegal, women have the same legal rights as men. However, it is still the case today that women are disadvantaged in many respects.

Contents

Women in the family

Despite governmental laws, outdated and incorrect perceptions of Sharia Law still enjoy a higher profile in many parts of Senegal. For example, they believe this law prohibits women from owning property or inheriting land from their fathers and husbands, although Islamic inheritance jurisprudence is widely disputed and has many laws that encourage women's inheritance. [1] Many Senegalese women also have the problem of being denied access to the labor market. There are different views on why the woman is more likely to stay at home and not to provide for a second income in the household. On the one hand, many Senegalese men do not want their wives to go out to work and make money, as this could potentially erode the power dynamic between husband and wife. The men are in their eyes still the ones who have to raise the money and financially to take care of the family. They want to prevent the women from being able to make any claims. Among other things, it is important to many men that the woman stays at home with the children to teach them the Muslim values. [2]

Girls' and boys' education

In Senegal, gender roles are clearly defined at home, and the opportunity cost of schooling tends to be higher for girls than for boys, and more so in rural areas. [3] In Senegal, especially in rural areas, girls are having more challenges in getting access to education than boys are. In addition to traditional norms that are being kept, it is the lack of education and illiteracy that prevents women from advancing. Many families rather send boys to school. Many girls that still go to school tend to drop out early, often due to drivers like marriage or early pregnancy. Nevertheless, over the past decade in Senegal, the enrollment of girls for secondary school has increased. The gender parity index (GPI) of primary enrollment worldwide has improved from below 0.9 in 1990 to 0.97 in 2012. Gender parity often indicates that in many countries in the world girls are under-enrolled, while the recent improvement of the GPI also implies a rising dropout rate for boys in some countries In Senegal, 81 boys for every 100 girls dropped out in 1999, whereas 113 boys for every 100 girls dropped out in 2011. [4]

Child marriage

Between 2000 and 2009, nearly 40% of Senegalese girls surveyed said they were married before their 18th birthday. This practice has been proven to have serious emotional and psychosocial consequences for those affected. They enter sexual relationships, which are often not consensual, and have to go directly from child to adulthood without adolescence. These weddings are also harmful because the girls very often have no say in choosing their future husband. [5] A Driver of this is education. Child marriage is one of the main causes of girls dropping out of school which therefore reduces overall economic productivity and increases gender inequality. Women with secondary education or higher are less likely to getting married before the age of 18 than women with no education and with simply primary education. [6]

Senegalese Law on Parity

Women represent 52% of the total Senegalese population, but only 23% of the representatives in the National Assembly, approximately 10% of the government officials, and about 13% of regional council members. [7] Many female politicians from across the political spectrum felt marginalised within their own political parties and saw the need for a common arena where women's attendance and work in politics could be discussed. [8] Therefore, In 2010, the Senegalese women's movement, being considered one of the strongest in Africa, was able to push for the adoption of the Law of parity. This law was later signed by former President Abdoulaye Wade. The aim of the law is to achieve equal female-male ratio in political parties candidate lists. Parties that do not comply with the law can be void. Already in 2012 the national election saw an increase of female parliamentarians from 22,7% to over 42% in the National Assembly. In the 2014 local election an increase from 16% to 47% was able to be seen in local legislatures. [9] However, the law could not be implemented in all respects. The second largest city in Senegal, Touba, presented an all-male candidate list of 100 candidates for the first elections since the law was introduced in 2014. As a result, the electoral commission was forced to exclude the party for failing to comply with the law of parity. Since the city of Touba, however, is a Muslim city and there, in contrast to other Senegalese cities, not the political parties but the Muslim Khalif created the candidate list, this injury referred to the laws of Sharia. Parity, he says, will never be in this city. The conflict between the sociological reality and the development project remains a major topic in Senegal.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mouride</span> Sufi mystic order in Sunni Islam

The Mouride brotherhood is a large tariqa most prominent in Senegal and The Gambia with headquarters in the city of Touba, which is a holy city for the order. Adherents are called Mourides, from the Arabic word murīd, a term used generally in Sufism to designate a disciple of a spiritual guide.The beliefs and practices of the Mourides constitute Mouridism. Mouride disciples call themselves taalibé in Wolof and must undergo a ritual of allegiance called njebbel, as it is considered highly important to have a sheikh "spiritual guide" in order to become a Mouride. The Mouride brotherhood was founded in 1883 in Senegal by Amadou Bamba. The Mouride make up around 40 percent of the total population, and their influence over everyday life can be seen throughout Senegal.

<i>So Long a Letter</i> Book by Mariama Bâ

So Long a Letter is a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel originally written in French by the Senegalese writer Mariama Bâ. It was her first novel. Its theme is the condition of women in Western African society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Senegal</span>

Senegal elects on the national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a seven-year term by the people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Senegal</span> Religion in Senegal

Islam is the predominant religion in Senegal. 97 percent of the country's population is estimated to be Muslim. Islam has had a presence in Senegal since the 11th century. Sufi brotherhoods expanded with French colonization, as people turned to religious authority rather than the colonial administration. The main Sufi orders are the Tijaniyyah, the Muridiyyah or Mourides, and to a lesser extent, the pan-Islamic Qadiriyyah and the smaller Layene order. Approximately 1% are Shiites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Islam</span> Womens role in Islamic culture

The experiences of Muslim women vary widely between and within different societies. At the same time, their adherence to Islam is a shared factor that affects their lives to a varying degree and gives them a common identity that may serve to bridge the wide cultural, social, and economic differences between them.

Gender segregation in Islamic law, custom, law and traditions refers to the practices and requirements in Islamic countries and communities for the separation of men and boys from women and girls in social and other settings. In terms of actual practice, the degree of adherence to these rules depends on local laws and cultural norms. In some Muslim-majority countries, men and women who are unrelated may be forbidden to interact closely or participate in the same social spaces. In other Muslim countries, these practices may be partly or completely unobserved. These rules are generally more relaxed in the media and in business settings, and more strictly observed in religious or formal settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminism in India</span> History of the feminist movement in India

Feminism in India is a set of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and opportunities for women in India. It is the pursuit of women's rights within the society of India. Like their feminist counterparts all over the world, feminists in India seek gender equality: the right to work for equality in wages, the right to equal access to health and education, and equal political rights. Indian feminists also have fought against culture-specific issues within India's patriarchal society, such as inheritance laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Bangladesh</span> Status of women in Bangladesh

The status of women in Bangladesh has been subject to many important changes over the past few centuries. Bangladeshi women have made significant progress since the country's independence in 1971, where women in the region experienced increased political empowerment for women, better job prospects, increased opportunities of education and the adoption of new laws to protect their rights through Bangladesh's policies in the last four decades. Still, women in Bangladesh continue to struggle to achieve equal status to men due to societal norms that enforce restrictive gender roles as well as poor implementation of laws that were set to protect women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Ivory Coast</span> Overview of the status of women in Ivory Coast

Women in Ivory Coast formed less than half the country's population in 2003. Their social roles and opportunities have changed since the time of French colonialism.

Gender inequality in India refers to health, education, economic and political inequalities between men and women in India. Various international gender inequality indices rank India differently on each of these factors, as well as on a composite basis, and these indices are controversial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gender Parity Index</span> Socioeconomic index

Released by UNESCO, the Gender Parity Index (GPI) is a socioeconomic index usually designed to measure the relative access to education of males and females. It is used by international organizations, particularly in measuring the progress of developing countries. For example, some UNESCO documents consider gender parity in literacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Yemen</span> Overview of the status of women in Yemen

Women in Yemen have historically been placed at a disadvantage due to their gender, with a highly patriarchal society. Although the government of Yemen has made efforts that will improve the rights of women in Yemen, many cultural and religious norms, along with poor enforcement of this legislation from the Yemeni government, have prevented Yemeni women from having equal rights to men.

Since the December 2010 revolution in Tunisia and protests across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) began, Tunisian women have played an unprecedented part in the protests. Habib Bourguiba began instituting secular freedoms for women in 1956, such as access to higher education, the right to file for divorce, and certain job opportunities. Women in Tunisia enjoy certain freedoms and rights that are denied to women in neighboring countries, although the social norms have shifted since 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Sudan</span> Overview of the status of women in Sudan

Sudan is a developing nation that faces many challenges in regard to gender inequality. Freedom House gave Sudan the lowest possible ranking among repressive regimes during 2012. South Sudan received a slightly higher rating but it was also rated as "not free". In the 2013 report of 2012 data, Sudan ranks 171st out of 186 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI). Sudan also is one of very few countries that are not a signatory on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in South Sudan</span> Overview of the status of women in South Sudan

Women in South Sudan are women who live in and are from South Sudan. Since the Independence of South Sudan on 9 July 2011, these women have gained more power but still face issues of inequality. Many women in this area do not have adequate access to health resources and education. While these women often face inequality, there has been progress since South Sudan's official declaration of independence. In recent years, this inequality has gained national attention and people have become more interested in the issue of child marriage that this area faces. Along with this, there has started to be a focus on the very high level of maternal mortality in South Sudan. With a maternal mortality rate of 789 deaths per 100,000 live births, South Sudan has one of the highest rates in the world.

Gender inequality has been improving a lot in Bangladesh, inequalities in areas such as education and employment remain ongoing problems so women have little political freedom. In 2015, Bangladesh was ranked 139 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index and 47 out 144 countries surveyed on the Gender Inequality Index in 2017. Many of the inequalities are result of extreme poverty and traditional gender norms centred on a patrilineal and patriarchal kinship system in rural areas.

The zipper system, also known as "vertical parity" or the "zebra system", is a type of gender quota for party lists in proportional representation electoral systems. It requires that parties alternate between women and men on their candidate lists, meaning that 50% of the candidates are women and 50% are men. The zipper method is applied to election laws in many countries in order to achieve equal gender representation in candidates and, potentially, elected members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amsatou Sow Sidibé</span>

Amsatou Sow Sidibé is an academic, lawyer and politician from Senegal. In 2012, she was the country's first female presidential candidate. Sidibé is a law professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University, where she serves as director of the Institute for Human Rights and Peace. She also founded and has served as president of the African Network for the Promotion of African Women Workers (RAFET), based in Dakar.

There are multiple factors which contribute to gender equality in Ivory Coast . The history of the Ivory Coast still influences gender inequality in the country. A large factor which also pushes the nation back to be a strong economic player is the lack of education especially for women. It starts from primary education up to higher-level education where girls are obviously disadvantaged compared to boys. Arranged marriages for girls who are often under the age of 18 and lack of knowledge about laws and their rights also promote gender inequality.

Gender parity is a statistical measure used to describe ratios between men and women, or boys and girls, in a given population. Gender parity may refer to the proportionate representation of men and women in a given group, also referred to as sex ratio, or it may mean the ratio between any quantifiable indicator among men against the same indicator among women.

References

  1. ↑ Senegal Women in Culture, Business & Travel (2nd ed.). World Trade Press. 2010. ISBN   978-1-60-780248-8. OCLC   645096034.
  2. ↑ Holt, Natalie (2010). Young, Autonomous and in Need of a Husband: Senegalese Youth, Gender Regimes, and the Economic Imperatives of Marriage.
  3. ↑ Dramani, Latif (2012). Vulnerability and social protection in Senegal: The Approach of the National Transfer Account. Dakar: Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances.
  4. ↑ "Achieving Education for All by 2015: Mixed results in Senegal".
  5. ↑ "Kinder im Senegal".
  6. ↑ "Child marriage Senegal" (PDF).
  7. ↑ Abdoulie, John (2010). "Women's Advocacy Group Salutes Senegalese MPs for Absolute Parity Law".
  8. ↑ M., Hughes (2015). "Transnational women's activism and the global diffusion of gender quotas". International Studies Quarterly. 59 (2): 357–372. doi: 10.1111/isqu.12190 .
  9. ↑ Tripp, A. M. (2015). Women and power in post-conflict Africa. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781316336014. ISBN   9781316336014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.