Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with Islam

How do Muslim women balance their religious agency and political aspirations? Gender quotas have been used across the African continent to improve women's political visibility since the 1990s. Senegal's own experiment with gender equality in 2010 faced political barriers as well as religio...

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Main Author: Seulgie Lim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-08-01
Series:Africa Spectrum
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397251344304
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author Seulgie Lim
author_facet Seulgie Lim
author_sort Seulgie Lim
collection DOAJ
description How do Muslim women balance their religious agency and political aspirations? Gender quotas have been used across the African continent to improve women's political visibility since the 1990s. Senegal's own experiment with gender equality in 2010 faced political barriers as well as religious ones. The author sheds light on how Muslim women activists in Senegal shaped women's place in their communities through the gender parity law. Based on multiple fieldwork visits from 2016 to 2018 and individual interviews with activists and scholars involved in the movement to make gender parity the law in Senegal, the author argues that while Islam may not always be the most adequate tool to dismantle patriarchal norms, it remains a valuable framework for women activists in Senegal to achieve secular change.
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publishDate 2025-08-01
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spelling doaj-art-15fbd04b9e024ec982f5fdd7f3a040c72025-08-20T03:51:29ZengSAGE PublishingAfrica Spectrum0002-03971868-68692025-08-016010.1177/00020397251344304Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with IslamSeulgie LimHow do Muslim women balance their religious agency and political aspirations? Gender quotas have been used across the African continent to improve women's political visibility since the 1990s. Senegal's own experiment with gender equality in 2010 faced political barriers as well as religious ones. The author sheds light on how Muslim women activists in Senegal shaped women's place in their communities through the gender parity law. Based on multiple fieldwork visits from 2016 to 2018 and individual interviews with activists and scholars involved in the movement to make gender parity the law in Senegal, the author argues that while Islam may not always be the most adequate tool to dismantle patriarchal norms, it remains a valuable framework for women activists in Senegal to achieve secular change.https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397251344304
spellingShingle Seulgie Lim
Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with Islam
Africa Spectrum
title Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with Islam
title_full Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with Islam
title_fullStr Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with Islam
title_full_unstemmed Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with Islam
title_short Redefining Gender Equality: A Senegalese Conversation with Islam
title_sort redefining gender equality a senegalese conversation with islam
url https://doi.org/10.1177/00020397251344304
work_keys_str_mv AT seulgielim redefininggenderequalityasenegaleseconversationwithislam