VZCZCXRO5566
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #2071 2950803
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220803Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9401
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS DAKAR 002071 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/IWI, AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL AND INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM KISL SG
SUBJECT: 2008 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE: SENEGALESE CANDIDATE. 
 
REF: STATE 126072 
 
Post hereby nominates Dr. Penda MBow, Professor of History at Cheikh 
Anta Diop University and President of the civic organization, 
Citizen Movement. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 
------------------------ 
Full legal name: Penda MBOW (em-bo) 
Job title: President of Citizen Movement and Professor of History at 
Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal. 
 
Date of Birth:May 16, 1955 in Dakar 
 
Country of birth: Senegal 
 
Citizenship: Senegalese 
 
Address: Campus universitaire Batiment C Appartement 12, Dakar-Fann, 
BP 25968, Dakar, Senegal 
 
Telephone: 221 33 824 77 57 (home); 221 76 684 68 62 
 
Email: pmbow@ucad.refer.sn or movcitoyen@sentoo.sn 
 
Passport number: 101 811 06 
 
JUSTIFICATION 
------------- 
 
Professor Penda MBow is known in the most remote huts and villages 
of Senegal as an incarnation of courage, freedom, and a tireless 
advocate for the promotion of women's rights in the Islamic world. 
As a member of Senegal's elite, she chose very early in her career 
to fight for ordinary women's freedom and social promotion.  In the 
70s she concentrated on basic needs such as access to water to 
alleviate women's domestic chores.  She also was the first and only 
opinion-maker to denounce the caste system in Senegal, which is 
still a taboo and hinders women's social mobility. 
 
Penda's most significant contribution is her commitment for women's 
freedom in Islamic societies.  She achieved success in this area 
through a feminist interpretation of Islam and the Koran.  As a 
historian of Islam who has mastered the Koran, she confronted the 
Islamist Movement in Senegal in the early 90s.  She received death 
threats and was physically assaulted by Islamist groups when she 
gave a public conference on March 8, 1992 questioning the use of 
Islam to justify polygamy and to establish a correlation between 
polygamy and the risk of spreading HIV/AIDS.  Not only was she 
assaulted, but Islamists denounced her in their sermons in mosques 
and in the media.  She courageously led a legal battle against them 
in the courts, leading to the deportation by the Senegalese 
Government of Pakistani Islamists who were mentoring the fledgling 
Senegalese Islamist movement. 
 
She continued her fight in 2003 by opposing Islamists again when 
they tried to introduce a new family Code based on Sharia on the 
grounds that only 93 percent of Senegalese people are of the Islamic 
faith.  The new Code they had submitted to the Head of State with 
support from many religious leaders attempted to significantly 
reduce the rights of women and suppress the progress achieved by 
women.  Thanks to her determined opposition the project was aborted. 
 
 
In 2007, during the preparation of the presidential elections, Penda 
again denounced the interference of Islamic religious leaders and 
asked that they leave citizens to vote according to their 
conscience.  She was verbally attacked by religious groups and again 
received death threats.  She ignored them and refused to take any 
special security measures to protect her life.  As a result, she 
became all the more admired and respected by the Senegalese people 
and many expressed their support for her efforts. 
 
Penda has successfully combined theological and academic theory with 
a commitment grassroots activism to become a potent force for the 
freedom of women.  She says that she makes no distinction between 
women and society, in her own words "to free women is to free 
society".  She has published dozens of articles and given hundreds 
of conferences around the world on issues of women, violence and 
religions; Islam and women; and women's religious innovations. 
Realizing the importance role of youth in that combat she 
established in 2002 a center to promote civic education to ensure 
that a new generation will continue the combat for freedom and 
democracy.  This nomination supports our key Mission Strategic Plan 
goals of Combating Terrorism and promoting Democratic Systems and 
Practices. 
SMITH