Feminism in Senegal

Feminism in Senegal became prominent in the 1980s with the creation of Yewwu-Yewwi. A second wave in the 1990s was more individual and pan-Africanist. A third wave in the 2000s and 2010s was more intersectional, accepting both the LGBT community and the wearing of the hijab, and extensively using online social networks.

Chronology
Researchers Barrel Gueye and Selly Ba view Senegalese feminism in the form of three waves: overt elite feminism with Yewwu-Yewwi in the 1980s; a more covert, pan-African wave in the 1990s; and an intersectional wave more insistent on Senegalese and African identity in the 2000s and 2010s.

Post-independence
Prior to Gueye and Ba's three waves, the Union des Femmes Sénégalaises was created several decades earlier, in 1956, before merging into what later became known as the Socialist Party of Senegal, the party that held political power in Senegal for several decades. Other women's organisations were created, including the Association des Femmes Africaines pour la Recherche et le Développement (AFARD) established in 1977, some of whose members were key in creating Yewwu-Yewwi.

1980s and 1990s
Yewwu-Yewwi (YY) was created in 1984, by founders including the sociologist Marie Angélique Savané. YY was overtly feminist, calling for "resistance and struggle" against patriarchal norms and institutions in both private and public life. YY opposed polygamy, support women's rights of contraception and abortion, equal rights for women and men in politics and in salaries. Gueye and Ba see YY as having successfully created "national and international momentum" in improving women's status.

According to Gueye and Ba, YY membership was mostly elite and leftist. It was verbally attacked by Islamists as the "henchmen of Satan" and "corrupting" society, as "ugly women" and as "easy women", and some were physically attacked. YY did not grow to include wider social groups or youth, leading to its eventual dissolution.

The second wave of Senegalese feminism benefited from the YY wave, but was more individual and covert, while also including a more pan-Africanist outlook. Specific issues of the second wave included continued actions to oppose female genital mutilation and child marriages.

2000s and 2010s
The third wave is seen by Gueye and Ba as further insisting on a diverse, intersectional, Senegalese form of feminism that is not the Western model of feminism, which is open to the LGBT community, does not oppose polygamy, and does not see wearing the hijab to be oppressive. Gueye and Ba view the third wave as achieving feminist aims through compromise with the patriarchal status quo as a practical strategy rather than through provocation.

The dominant use of online social networks by the third wave, without contact with large numbers of illiterate women without internet access, was seen by Gueye and Ba as limiting the wave's ability to achieve major changes.

In a March 2015 discussion on Senegalese feminism, Marie-Angélique Savané objected to discussion of gender replacing discussion of oppression. She viewed the younger generation as failing to maintain the gains of YY, and said that accepting the wearing of the hijab was not part of Senegalese culture.

2020s
In April 2023, Feminist sociologist Fatou Sow supported the creation of the Réseau des féministes du Sénégal (Network of feminists in Senegal). She commended the organisations in the network for overtly declaring themselves to be feminist, as stated in the "Charter of feminist principles for African feminists" created during the 2009 African Feminist Forum held in Accra; and for the organisations' willingness to network together despite diverse interests and conflicts. Sow argued that Africa is the only continent to have a women's rights convention, the Maputo Protocol.

Legislative achievements
The third wave of Senegalese feminists were credited with several legal changes. In 2004, Law 91-22 of 16 February 1991 on education was modified to make education obligatory for all children from the age of six to sixteen. In 2010, Law 2010-11 of 28 May 2010 established "absolute parity" in all institutions that are "partially or totally" electoral. Lists of candidates have to alternate candidates of "the two sexes". The law was implemented, with the 2012 parliamentary election resulting in 64 women parliamentarians out of 150 seats in total (43%) and the 2022 election resulting in 73 women out of 165 seats (44%). In 2020, Law 2020-05 of 10 January 2020 criminalised rape and paedophilia.