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How the 2024 transition of power halved women’s representation in Senegal's government [1]
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Date: 2025-07-23
Bowel Diop originally wrote this article as part of the Aspen Global Innovators’ Program, Impact West Africa Fellowship. This story is being republished as part of a content partnership agreement.
Throughout the world, regime changes often disproportionately affect women’s hard-won rights. Senegal, renowned for its democratic stability and progress in gender equality, is no exception to this alarming global dynamic.
“The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them.” This declaration by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Africa’s first elected female president, has an ironic resonance in Senegal, where the recent, long-awaited political transition is already showing worrying signs of regression for women’s rights. Although Senegalese women have the skills, they are systematically excluded from decision-making positions.
In March 2024, Senegal saw a significant power shift, with Bassirou Diomaye Faye elected president and Ousmane Sonko appointed prime minister. This appointment raised hopes of a radical democratic turnaround and inclusive governance. However, these hopes were soon dashed as the proportion of women in government fell by half, officials renamed the Ministry of Women without consultation, and the new government failed to implement a gender equality action plan.
An alarming regression in Senegal
On April 6, 2024, I joined a WhatsApp group called Consultation: Women – Gender – New Regime, discussing the way the new administration will affect gender relations. The figures speak for themselves. Of the 30 ministers and secretaries of state appointed in government, only four are women, representing 13.3 percent of all ministerial positions.
The disillusionment is palpable on social media. The activist Amsatou Sow Sidibé posted on Facebook about “women’s declining presence” in government. On X, the Network of Feminists in Senegal argues that “the decision to remove the word ‘Women’ from the Ministry of Women gives us reason to believe the current state of affairs will only continue.”
Mr le Président @DiomayeFaye, comment compter vous tenir vos promesses de campagne sur les droits des femmes si le ministère de la femme est supprimé?Cette nouvelle dénomination est une véritable régression pour les droits des femmes et des filles. pic.twitter.com/lHLJzCFGXp — Collectif des Féministes du Sénégal (@CollFemSn) April 9, 2024
Mr. President @DiomayeFaye, How exactly do you intend to keep your campaign promises on women’s rights after dissolving the Ministry of Women? The new name represents a real regression of women’s and girls’ rights. Image: Poor government representation. Jean Baptiste Tine: ‘Maintaining political stability and strong institutions at all costs.’ The Caucus of Women Leaders: This is the first time the representation rate has fallen to just 13 percent. Senegalese sociologist Fatou Sow Sarr and others suggest a presidential team with a female vice president. Senegalese sociologist Marie Angélique Savané launched a petition: The new name reduces women to mere childbearers.
On the list of government members published on April 2, 2024, Sonko appointed four women, in a largely male-dominated government landscape, to the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs (Yacine Fall), Minister of Fisheries (Fatou Diouf), Minister of Family (Maïmouna Dièye), and Minister of Youth and Culture (Khady Diène Gaye).
By comparison, the government of former president Macky Sall, formed in October 2023, had seven women ministers, almost twice as many as the current government. This is a clear step backward in female representation at the highest levels of government.
This regression is all the more concerning as it follows the replacement of the Ministry of Women, Family, and Child Protection with the Ministry of Family and Solidarities. The decision sparked strong protests among Senegalese feminist organizations.
Female excellence ignored
There is no shortage of competent women in Senegal who are already deeply involved in the country’s transformation. In higher education, there’s Professor Mame Penda BA (Director of the Laboratory for the Analysis of African Societies and Diasporas (LASPAD); in health, there’s Professor Fatimata LY (dermatologist and associate professor at the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar), and in economics, there’s Thiaba Camara SY, (a renowned economist), to name but a few.
These examples epitomize women’s excellence. Their absence from the decision-making sphere indicates the system’s resistance to the structural transformation necessary for achieving true gender equality.
Their exclusion jeopardizes the progress made with Law 2010-11 of May 28, 2010, on full gender parity. Its objective was to support and enshrine the presence of women in all places that shape our nation’s future.
Women's role is not limited to reproduction and family care; we are more than just wombs and housekeepers. Our skills and aspirations transcend these stereotypes.
A global regression
The situation in Senegal is part of an alarming global trend. The pattern is similar in developed and developing countries alike. Women are often the primary victims of conservative political changes, coming in the form of authoritarian regimes or governments that are less committed to gender equality.
This regression is never unintentional. It all starts with systematic mechanisms for women’s political and economic marginalization.
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The impact is tangible. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), discriminatory social institutions cost Africa the equivalent of 7.5 percent of its GDP in 2019. Globally, the World Bank estimates the loss in human capital wealth because of gender inequality at USD 160.2 trillion — around twice the value of the global GDP.
Research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggests that narrowing the gender gap in the labor market could increase the GDP in emerging and developing economies by almost eight percent.
This regression, successful due to society's passivity, has a profound impact on women’s rights, widening social and economic inequalities, and creating a less equitable society. A conservative rhetoric constitutes the basis for such regression, reducing women to the traditional role of unheard wives and mothers.
Our threefold response
Faced with these growing difficulties, from challenging the right to abortion in the United States and banning women from singing in public in Afghanistan to reducing the percentage of women in decision-making positions in Senegal, taking a stand is the only solution. Our response must be threefold.
Firstly, organized monitoring through citizen observatories to monitor public policies on gender, document, and speak out about every setback.
Secondly, greater solidarity with women candidates for decision-making positions to build a network of leaders available for positions of responsibility.
Thirdly, concrete political action by boosting the use of social media to amplify excluded women’s voices and relentlessly pressure political parties to respect parity.
Coming together and speaking out to defend our rights and achievements has become crucial. As no country has ever developed or improved its citizens’ living conditions by excluding half of them, taking action isn’t an option but a necessity.
Only through ongoing engagement can we build a Senegal where all young women can dream of leading their country and actively participate in its inclusive and sustainable development.
Action of primary importance, not secondary
A successful transition is impossible without women. Economic growth and peace are also impossible if half of society is left out. Action is of primary importance, not secondary.
We aren’t asking for political charity. We are calling for recognition of our credentials, skills, and the essential role we play in transforming Senegal.
We must unite with every setback, speak out with every unfair appointment, and make every excluded woman’s voice heard.
Our immediate duty is threefold: document every setback, support every competent woman left behind, and establish an inclusive political alternative. As South African activist and politician Mbali Ntuli said, “We don’t ask to lead because we’re women. We ask because we’re capable.”
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