abbey is not clever

b-sama:

DAKAR, Feb 23 (IPS) – There are two women among the 14 candidates contesting the first round of Senegalese presidential elections that will be held on Feb. 26. But according to several analysts, this overwhelmingly Muslim West African country is not ready to be governed by a woman.One of the female candidates is Amsatou Sow Sidibé, a law professor at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), leader of the civil society group Convergence of Stakeholders for the Defense of Republican Values. The other is independent candidate and fashion designer Diouma Diakhaté Dieng.Sow Sidibé, 59, already has a modest track record in politics, while Diakhaté Dieng entered the race at the last moment, her candidacy catching many observers by surprise.Even if some think that courage and gender go well together and could help the two candidates, others feel that Senegal’s electorate is not yet ready to entrust a woman with the reins of power.

The two candidates are well aware of the status of women in the country and the way they are perceived by men, and this is why they are seeking to break the taboo by winning on Feb. 26.

Sow Sidibé says that she has spent decades fighting to promot women’s rights and leadership, because there can be no democracy without the participation of half of the population: 52 percent of Senegal’s population is female, according to 2011 statistics.

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