POLITICS-SENEGAL: Ms. Mayor, Ms. Prefect

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Koffigan E. Adigbli

DAKAR, Oct 10 2008 (IPS) - The Sicap Baobab neighborhood, one of the prettiest in the Senegalese capital, stands out, but not for the most obvious reasons. Not for its well-paved roads, or the number of naturalised immigrants from Cabo Verde, Togo or Benin, not for the hustle and bustle of the formal and informal economies.

What sets this Dakar neighbourhood apart is the fact that the mayor is a woman, Senator Aminata Thiam, the only female mayor in this West African country.

There is also only one female prefect, Laure Elisabeth Bampassy, in Guédiawaye, a suburb of Dakar.

Some hoped that Senegal's 1996 Decentralisation Law would usher in more female leadership at the local level. They have been disappointed.

"The law should have helped women reach more positions of authority, especially in local governance," says Penda Mbow, a history professor at Dakar's Cheikh Anta Diop University. According to Mbow, women have the political will but face social and cultural hurdles at many levels.

"There are still men who won't take orders from a women. Senegal is one of the many countries where women are relegated to secondary roles in public administration, major institutions and political power," she explained to IPS.

"It makes it difficult to find enough qualified women," Mbow added.

However, recent statistics published by the Statistics and Forecasting Bureau show that women make up 30 percent of the workforce: 70 percent of rural workers (where they account for 80 percent of food processing labor), 70 percent of the informal labor market, 15 percent of public administration workers and 4 percent of formal private sector workers.

Aïda Mbodj, deputy and member of the ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS, in French) told IPS that women are finding it difficult to integrate the political apparatus.

A nutritionist and kindergarten principal, Mbodj was named Minister of Families in 2006. Today she's a PDS deputy and Vice-President of the National Assembly where 23 of the 150 deputies are women. In the Senate 39 of the 100 members are women.

But women are missing at the municipal level. There are a number of barriers, according to Mayor Thiam. "Its not easy for us women in politics, who first have to deal with men who try to shove us aside as 'rebel women'," she said.

A PDS member, Thiam was voted mayor of Baobab county in 2007, and was appointed to the Senate by the President, who can appoint up to 65 senators.

According to Thiam, the three main issues facing her neighborhood are youth migration to Europe, poverty and violence. The population is approximately 121,400 according to the 2006 census.

In her work plan Thiam hopes to promote inter-cultural relations in a diverse county where different groups stand to enrich each other. She also wants to build basic infrastructure for children and youth. A third goal is to encourage parents to declare births and obtain birth certificates.

When listing tangible achievements, Thiam highlights first and foremost the community's confidence in her leadership. She is always available to those who need to speak about their problems and concerns, and does everything in her power to provide moral or material support to her neighbors.

Madeline Sagna, a neighborhood fish vendor, told IPS that Mayor Thiam distributes pens and notebooks to children at the beginning of the school year.

A Muslim mother of four, Thiam works overtime to fulfill all her responsibilities. "When I get home from work I am with my children, I listen to them and support them," she said.

Her husband and family have always been very supportive of her political career. "Everyone in my family is very understanding, no one has bothered me," she said.

There are promising signs surrounding women's participation in Senegalese politics, but there's still a long way to go. In the 2008 UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Report on Women's Progress it will take developing nations two generations – up til 2045 – to reach the point where no gender holds more than 60 percent of parliamentary seats.

"Senegal lags behind Gambia and South Africa. Its a pity that despite a democratic regime the situation hasn't improved," Mbow complained.