Women in other Countries: Senegalese Women Research

Senegalese Women
Student Name
Institution
Senegalese Women
Senegal is a country in West African inhabited a population of approximately 13 million, with its women being 50 percent of the entire population. Senegal’s economy is largely based on agriculture and farms are considered a valuable measure of family wealth (Berg & Lau, 2010, p. 56). Being dominantly a Muslim community, the women are second-class in almost all socio-cultural activities. In not a very long distant past, women resolved to doing house chores such as child rearing, cleaning, and cooking. Recent development of infrastructure in cities such as Dakar has seen the exodus of men from the villages in search of greener grass. Consequently, in rural Senegal, women have become increasingly involved in managing the natural resources and operation of maize, rice and millet mills. The Senegalese government seeks to involve the woman more in development by establishing agencies to organize the village women. In effect, women are increasingly playing a predominant role in village health committees, prenatal and postnatal programs. The changes have quickly spread to the cities and urban areas where women have now ventured into the labor market as clerks, secretaries, and unskilled workers.
Despite all these efforts to spur development, the relative status of the man and the woman largely remains the same. Just like the position of women in many other ethnic groups, women here are dependent on the men and the man has all the rights over the woman and what she produces. Despite having a constitutional guard the women in Senegal especially in the rural areas where Islamic customs are strictly adhered to still encounter extensive social discrimination. A recent survey showed that about 50 percent of all women are involved in polygynous unions, and only 23 percent of the Senegalese women employed are paid (Stringer, 1996, p. 215). Many NGO’s worldwide together with the women of Senegal are still seeking solutions to the vast inequality problem in Senegal today.
Despite being one of the most abundantly, bestowed country in the world Senegal has perennially remained one of the world’s poorest with over 50% of the population living below the poverty line. Thre...