CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Yacinthe Diene, Senegal, May 1998
THEME = WOMEN
Women are claiming greater participation
in the political life of the nation,
since they form the majority of the electorate
(Editor's note: This article was written on the eve of the general elections in Senegal, which took place on the 24 May).
As the general elections approached in May 1998, the Senegalese Women's Council (COSEF) launched an awareness campaign, in order to standardise the position of women in political and decision-making spheres. This action had the support of the Canadian Centre for Research and International Cooperation, the African Institute for Demographic Studies, the Netherlands Embassy in Dakar, the United Nations Women's Organization and the Frederich Ebert Foundation.
COSEF selected three main lines of inquiry for its initiative, called "Democracy, where are you?", intended to strengthen Senegalese democracy. Aminata Faye Kassé, its president, summed them up as follows: "To increase and improve women's inclusion in party lists; to encourage electors to take the women's perspective into account in the choice that they make, so that women are better represented in the National Assembly; to encourage the various candidates to pay attention to female issues and attitudes in the electorate, and in formulating their programmes."
While it is acknowledged that women intend to enter Parliament in force, the question must be asked, how many of them are likely to be elected on 24 May. Any answer to this must start with an objective diagnosis of the context in which these elections are taking place. They actually constitute a turning point in the political history of Senegal. A new generation of political players will emerge from these elections, ready for the presidential elections in the year 2000. For this reason, while political women's representation is at the heart of the concerns of women's associations, it is much less so within the political parties.
The configuration of the political élite shows that women are under-represented in the Senegalese political bodies; they are given only the smallest share in elective posts, and they rarely appear at the top of the list. Despite their numerical superiority at national level, they are still politically in a minority.
In the general elections of May 1998, women have a 33% share in the lists of And-Jef/Pads; 26% in the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) and 21% in the Socialist Party (PS), which is in power. Incidentally, this is only a reflection of the existing situation in senior party positions. For example, the PS has 4 women out of 12 members in its political office, 110 out of 600 on its central committee and one minister out of a government cabinet of 27. On the other hand, the PDS has a third of women at each of its political levels: 100 in the political office, 25 on the national secretariat, and 7 on the steering committee.
The same situation applies in Parliament. Since 1957, Senegal has had eight governments, each in power for five years. The first had no women, the second saw the first women Member appointed out of a total of eighty - Mrs Caroline Faye; the next two had respectively two and four female Members out of eighty; the fifth had eight women out of a hundred Members and the last three have had, respectively thirty, eighteen and fourteen women Members out of a total of 120.
"Very little has changed with regard to the representation of women on the National Assembly between 1963 and 1998. It has swung to and fro, but from these elections on, as the 3rd millennium begins, it will be constant in its growth," comments Mrs Aminata M'Benque N'Diaye, Minister for Women, Children and the Family, on the 30 March, at the ceremony to launch the COSEF campaign. According to a survey carried out in 1994, women actually form 52% of a national population estimated at 8,127,000 inhabitants. Consequently, they should be properly represented, both in number and in position, in all decision- making bodies. But, while there may be no doubt about the representation of women in political life, they themselves interpret this representation differently.
Female opinion has many ways of reading the position of women on the political chessboard.
For some, including the Women's Yewu-Yewi Association (in Wolof, literally: Wake Up To Freedom), it appears that women cannot exercise their rights within the political body, since they are in a situation where they are dominated by an élite which protects its own interests, with no prospect of change. Those who hold this theory recommend a consultative assembly, or two-chamber system in order to restore the balance, or failing that, a representative democratic system, with equal numbers of women and men on the electoral lists.
Conversely, women with responsibility in the political field are much more flexible. They relativise or inflect the above attitude. They believe that under-representation results from internal democratic structures and that it would be worse without the quota system or places reserved for women which is fairly widespread. They also recognise the rearguard role played by traditional practice and custom, justified and legitimised by religion, as well as that of illiteracy, which runs at 68% among women, compared to 32% among men.
As for COSEF, it is fighting for the political status of women to grow through the positive action and support of men in the political organisations; it is trying to increase the representation of women in the National Assembly and in all decision-making bodies, since women's presence is essential both inside and outside decision-making centres. COSEF therefore wants to put an end to the instrumentalism and marginalisation of women in politics, while they have a central part to play in stirring up action. Women can rally opinion, and they actually have an essential role in the life of social, labour and political groupings. But too often they are seen simply in terms of a mass electoral manoeuvre, or as subjects for the dramatic speeches of the leaders, and for popular animation of political "powers- that-be". They are never, or hardly ever, associated with decision-making or implementation of programmes.
Senegalese women want to move to the front of the political stage, in order to translate the political ethic throughout the next term of office, from 1998-2003. In Senegal, as elsewhere in the world, there is a logic which dictates that women should be passive, since power is exercised according to masculine models, with a culture diametrically opposed to that of women.
"Political institutions have been created by men, who are perfectly at home in them, while women feel uncomfortable in decision-making centres", observed Madame Awa Kane on 8 March, at a conference on "Women's access to decision-making processes in politics". Does this mean that women have a secondary part to play within political bodies?
This unfavourable political situation, from a women's perspective, is unacceptable for the following reasons:
- Practical: For a long time now, complementarity between women and men has been self-evident, and women have demonstrated their expertise and understanding of the changes at the heart of the world today;
- Democratic: They must be present where political decisions are taken, and use their demographic muscle, since in a democracy, influence is a form of power;
- Legal: Men and women are biologically defined as human, and as such, they have the same rights within the uniqueness of universal values before the law.
There is, consequently, only one alternative for women in coping with the phenomenon of marginalisation: a democratic struggle. If they do not fight, there will be no change, and they will be offered nothing on a platter. This COSEF campaign may be seen as a response by women to the inaction of political men, who promised, after a whole series of interviews, to do everything they could to turn over a new leaf, and consider women as full comrades. This is perhaps why COSEF decided to call its troops to arms at a time of political turmoil, when the political leaders are mobilising and recruiting their political staff, potentially the elected members of the next legislation and consequently of the next government. One section of female opinion believes that the future of politics belongs to women, and that the time has come for the political power to switch to women.
Overall, a battle has begun for positions, and COSEF intends to continue its campaign, which will be extended across the whole field, via the media, with publication of a book on "women, ethics and politics", a song or anthem conveying COSEF's philosophy, and posters in French and in the other languages of the country.
Editor's note - It should be noted that in the election results we have received, there is no mention of the number of women elected.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement