VZCZCXRO3728
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #2610/01 3030935
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300935Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6739
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DAKAR 002610 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR G/IWI, DRL/AE, AF/RSA AND AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KWMN KISL PINR SG
SUBJECT: SENEGALESE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT DOWN FOR THE COUNT 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1.  (SBU) Although Senegalese women recently received the 
legal right to head households and to enjoy the relevant tax 
and insurance benefits, Senegal's women's movement is 
stagnating.  In a system where the few women in national 
politics tend to spend more energy consolidating power than 
using it, female reformers and dissidents find they do not 
remain in power long, and young women have become 
increasingly cynical and disinterested in the women's 
movement.  They are increasingly turning to Islam as an 
outlet, but remain, like so many others in Senegalese 
society, vulnerable and disenchanted.  END SUMMARY. 
 
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP 
------------------- 
¶2.  (SBU) Leadership opportunities at local levels have 
improved for some Senegalese women.  Safietou Dioup, 
Vice-President of the Regional Council of the District of 
Thies, tells us when she first became involved in politics in 
the mid-70s, she was one of only three women interested in 
running for public office.  Now, 60 percent of positions in 
Thies are filled by women, which exceeds the national average 
of under 30 percent.  According to the National Democratic 
Institute (NDI), between 1993 and 1998, 12 percent of 
deputies elected to the National Assembly were women.  This 
figure increased marginally in 1998, when 19 out of the 140 
deputies elected were women.  In 2000, political parties 
committed to reserving 30 percent of total places in the 
National Assembly for women, but instead of gaining seats in 
the 2001 elections, women lost seats.  This year, in 
preparation for the 2007 elections, they are trying to 
renegotiate the commitment to reserved women's seats from 
both ruling and opposition parties. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Now, key local and regional women leaders find it 
difficult to attain national posts.  They are held back not 
only by their status as women, but also, seemingly, by 
President Wade's preference for the status quo and, in one 
important case, his insistence on loyalty.  In March 2001, 
for example, Wade appointed Mame Madior Boye as his second ) 
and Senegal,s first female -- Prime Minister.  This was seen 
as a breakthrough by many women's organizations and a sign 
that Senegal was well on the way to complete gender equality. 
 Though Boye and most of her cabinet were members of his 
party, Wade dismissed her government in 2002, following the 
sinking of the Joola ferry with a loss of almost 2,000 lives. 
 (NOTE:  France recently issued a warrant for Boye,s arrest 
on manslaughter charges related to the tragedy.  END NOTE.) 
While never fully articulated to the public, popular opinion 
attributes Boye's dismissal to failure to implement Wade's 
decisions without question. 
 
OBSTACLES TO ATTAINING POLITICAL POWER 
-------------------------------------- 
¶4.  (U) Illiteracy and lack of education are major obstacles 
preventing women from political involvement.  Statistics from 
UNESCO's 2006 Global Monitoring Report reveal adult literacy 
in Senegal to be 51.1 percent for men but only 29.2 percent 
for women.  Primary education is free and compulsory for all 
children, but girls tend to be removed from school early for 
marriage or work.  Senegal's National Agency for Statistics 
and Demographics has found that, in general, the higher the 
level of education, the lower the proportion of girls to 
boys.  During the 2002-2003 school year, girls comprised 48 
percent of students in primary school, but in secondary 
school made up only 38 percent of total enrollment. 
According to the GOS, 80.6 percent of school-age girls were 
enrolled in school in the 2005-2006 academic year. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Educated women find it difficult to overcome social 
constraints or vocalize dissent with male colleagues and 
often fail to receive the mentoring that male colleagues 
typically enjoy.  Awa Wade, a leading figure in the 
opposition Democratic League and union leader, tells us women 
are often in the dark about where and when a vote will take 
place or a decision will be made.  Moreover, colleagues often 
make no allowances for familial responsibilities that may 
infringe on other duties. 
 
WOMEN'S MOVEMENT FADING FAST 
---------------------------- 
¶6.  (SBU) The impact of the women's movement has declined in 
the last decade.  While the number of women's organizations 
and NGOs is increasing throughout Senegal, they are typically 
micro-organizations geared to localized economic development 
or other local issues.  There is not much contact among 
grassroots women's organizations, and they rarely unite to 
work on substantial issues. 
 
 
DAKAR 00002610  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) There seems to be some disagreement as to why the 
women's movement is ineffective.  Some, like Rahmet Sow of 
opposition Jef-Jel party, believe the movement is too fixated 
on theoretical issues and thus alienates "common" women 
looking for practical solutions to material problems. 
Others, such as civil society leader Marietou Dia and 
historian and gender expert Penda Mbow, think that it is a 
lack rather than an overabundance of theoretical debate that 
is inhibiting progress.  They believe the movement's 
inability to engage others in the "big debates" about 
polygamy and family has led to political impotency.  This 
duel of perspectives boils down to which must come first: 
political/legal gains or economic gains. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Dia says that the women's movement faces two main 
problems.  First, it is too dispersed and disjointed to unite 
over issues.  Second, young women are no longer interested in 
politics, jaded and apathetic both toward the movement and 
toward women who have achieved political success.  Everyone 
we talked to argued there is a growing popular belief that 
secular authorities, especially politicians, have no moral 
values and are only out to benefit themselves and their 
supporters.  Islam is becoming more important to women, 
particularly young women, while political and economic 
equality with men seems to be growing less important. 
 
THE IMPACT OF ISLAM 
------------------- 
¶9.  (SBU) In 2000, shortly after becoming President, Wade 
announced that his first duty was to his marabout or 
religious guide--in his case the Khalif of the dynamic 
Mouride brotherhood.  Since then, Islam has become more 
politicized both in lobbying and in creating or consolidating 
movements or political parties that yield electoral 
candidates. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Social trends seem also to show the increasing 
appeal of rigorous Islam.  Frustration with growing poverty 
has led many young, educated Senegalese to reject Western 
values, including the Western conception of women as 
independent and equal.  Many of the new women's Islamic 
organizations are being formed by women in universities. 
Explicit Islamic values are becoming more of a force in 
Senegalese culture as well.  Polygamy, while always accepted, 
seemed to go "out of fashion" for awhile, but is now said to 
be more accepted by young, cosmopolitan Senegalese women. 
The promotion of "Senegalese" mores and lifestyles, 
frequently associated with Islam by important political and 
cultural leaders like Wade or Senegalese folk hero Youssou 
Ndour is on the rise. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Women are an integral though generally backstage 
part of Islam in Senegal.  They send their children to 
koranic schools (daaras) and are involved in preparations for 
religious ceremonies and festivals.  They are also active in 
religious organizations that support the marabouts.  In urban 
areas, support is typically economic, given through tithes or 
other projects that generate cash.  In rural areas, voluntary 
labor may substitute for financial contributions.  Women are 
also involved in gathering money to enable pilgrimages to 
Mecca. 
 
¶12.  (U) These activities provide women with an autonomous 
space for cultural action and mutual support that is separate 
from families yet do not clash with traditional identities or 
values.  Through these roles, women are allowed to 
participate in religious activities and even, in very few 
cases, achieve religious, social or political power.  The 
women who do become prominent within the religious community 
are often descended from important religious leaders whose 
families have been active for generations.  Sokhna Mariama 
Niass, for example, runs an influential daara with branches 
in Nigeria and France.  Her daara has both male and female 
students, and she says girls comprise typically 10 percent of 
students in all daaras. 
 
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 
-------------------- 
¶13.  (U) NDI organized a nationwide training program for 
women in politics from 2002 through 2004.  The program had a 
significant impact, and many Senegalese women still talk 
about its usefulness.  Looking at the numbers, 10 of the 44 
ministers, 23 of the 120 deputies, 31 of the 110 members of 
the Council of the Republic for Economic and Social Affairs, 
4 of Senegal,s 51 ambassadors, 61 of the 470 regional 
counselors, 1,133 of the 4,216 municipal counselors, and 
1,043 of the 9,092 rural counselors are women. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) The GOS recently recognized the legal right of 
women to head households, providing them with insurance and 
 
DAKAR 00002610  003 OF 003 
 
 
tax benefits.  However, women,s many legal gains are often 
not adequately enforced.  For example, though Senegal laws 
prohibit rape and other forms of abuse, these laws are not 
uniformly enforced, and perpetrators are only infrequently 
prosecuted or convicted.  The story of a victim identified in 
the media as K.D. provides illustration.  On August 24, after 
more than a year of delay, Ousmane Tamboura, a 23-year-old 
member of the Senegalese Armed Forces, was tried for raping 
an eight-year-old girl.  Such cases have sparked public 
indignation and a great deal of press over the past year, but 
Tamboura escaped lightly.  Despite article 320 of the Penal 
Code mandating a ten-year sentence, he faces a little over a 
year in prison. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶15.  (SBU) Though some Senegalese believe the country's 
women's movement has stalled, there are still a few 
commanding female voices calling out in what they see as the 
"male wilderness."  These women, focused on continuing to 
push the female agenda and advance women's rights, have been 
the critical element in ensuring that the movement does not 
die.  They are politically and economically savvy and draw on 
legal arguments to make their case, enjoying strong support 
from Minister of Women, Family and Social Development Aida 
Mbodj and her predecessor, Awa Gueye Kebe, who is a strong 
supporter of former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶16.  (U) Visit Embassy Dakar's classified website at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/af/dakar/. 
JACOBS