Marie "Mame" Bassine Niang (1951 - September 27, 2013) was a Senegalese lawyer.
Born into a Muslim family in 1951 in Tambacounda, Senegal, Mame Bassin Niang studied law in France at the French commune of Aix-en-Provence. After her studies, she returned to Senegal to become the first black woman lawyer at the Dakar Bar in 1975. [1]
Her professional career focused on the defense of human rights in a context of restricted freedom of thought. Her commitment led her to create the Organisation Nationale des Droits de L’Homme du Sénégal (ONDH) (english: National Organization for Human Rights of Senegal), of which she was the first president. [2]
Considered as a feminist icon and concerned by the issue of women's emancipation, she was one of the founding members of the Association des Juristes Sénégalaises (AJS) (english: Association of Senegalese Jurists). She was at the point the Vice President of the Fondation internationale des femmes juriste (IFAD), (English: International Foundation of Women Lawyers). [3] She was High Commissioner for Human Rights under the presidency of Abdoulaye Wade. She died on September 27, 2013, in Dakar following a long illness at the age of 62. [4] [5]
Mariama Bâ was a Senegalese author and feminist, whose two French-language novels were both translated into more than a dozen languages. Born in Dakar, Senegal, she was raised a Muslim.
Mame Madior Boye is a Senegalese politician who served as Prime Minister of Senegal from 2001 to 2002. She was the first woman to hold that position.
The Senegalese education system is based on its French equivalent. The state is responsible for the creation of an educational system that enables every citizen access to education. Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution adopted in January 2001 guarantee access to education for all children. However, due to limited resources and low demand for secular education in areas where Islamic education is more prevalent, the law is not fully enforced.
Nafissatou Niang Diallo was a Senegalese writer who wrote in French. After studying in Toulouse, France, she began writing. She was active in social services both as a midwife and as director of a maternal and child health centre, and describes in her writing both traditional and modern aspects of Senegalese society. Her autobiography De Tilène au Plateau, a Dakar childhood, published in 1975, was among the first works of literature to be published by a Senegalese woman, after which she published three novels before her early death at the age of 41.
Fatou Niang Siga was a Senegalese author and schoolteacher. She was a Mouride Muslim and has made the hajj to Mecca twice. She was married and had twelve children. Her daughter Maïmouna Sourang Ndir served as Senegal's ambassador to France. Her writing revolved around her native Saint-Louis, Senegal. Siga died on 11 April 2022.
Rama Yade is a Senegalese-born French politician and author who has been director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center since 2021.
Women in Senegal have a traditional social status as shaped by local custom and religion. According to 2005 survey, the female genital mutilation prevalence rate stands at 28% of all women in Senegal aged between 15 and 49.
Angèle Diabang Brener is a Senegalese screenwriter, director and film producer.
Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne was a Senegalese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Senegal from 2014 to 2019. He was the third prime minister appointed by President Macky Sall. Dionne served at the Central Bank of West African States, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (ONUDI), and as the advisor of the president, before his appointment as prime minister. He was a computer engineer by training.
Sidiki Kaba is a Senegalese politician who served as the 15th Prime Minister of Senegal from 6 March 2024 to 3 April 2024.
Bineta Diop is a Senegalese women's rights activist. She is the founder of Femmes Africa Solidarité, a non-profit organization created to promote women's rights in Africa.
Maïmouna Sourang Ndir is a Senegalese politician who served in various government ministry positions as well as being Senegal's ambassador to France from 2009 to 2012.
Ntyam Ondo Suzanne Mengue Zomo is a Cameroonian jurist who was elected to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights for a six-year term in 2016.
Fatou Kiné Camara is a Senegalese lawyer and women's rights campaigner. The daughter of a magistrate and government minister, Camara has a doctorate in law and works as a lecturer and researcher. She has supported campaigns for reform in many areas of the law and is particularly involved in attempting to increase the availability of abortions and free legal advice.
Harimia Ahmed is a Comorian lawyer. The first female lawyer in the country, she has served as Minister of Justice and president of the bar council. Ahmed acted as defense counsel for high-profile clients in the islands' courts.
Human rights in Senegal are generally better respected than in other countries in the continent, but cases of violation are still regularly reported.
Mame Seck Mbacké was a Senegalese writer. She wrote in French and in Wolof.
Codou Bop is a Senegalese sociologist, journalist and women's rights activist who also engages against gender violence in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Elisabeth Dior Fall Sow is a Senegalese jurist and legal scholar. She was the first female prosecutor in Senegal, appointed to the Republic at the Court of First Instance of Saint-Louis in 1976. She is honorary president of the Association of Women Jurists.
Aminata Diaw Cissé was a Senegalese lecturer and political philosopher who taught at the Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD). Influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and her academia background, she wrote about citizenship, civil society, democracy, development, ethnicity, gender, globalisation, human rights, identity, nationality and the state in an African and Senegalese context by using a political insight. Diaw worked for the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Bellagio Study and Conference Center of the Rockfeller Foundation, National UNESCO Sub-Commission on Social Sciences and Humanities, West African Research Association, the National UNESCO Sub-Commission on Social Sciences and Humanities and the Philosophical and Epistemological Research Center of the Doctoral School Studies.