Senegal
Senegal has made notable legal gains on women’s rights, including the criminalisation of rape, gender parity in elected office, and ratification of the Maputo Protocol. However, between 2024 and 2025, rising conservative movements increasingly mobilised to undermine the advances, exploiting gaps between legislation and implementation to roll back hard-won rights, weakening protections for women and exposing activists to heightened resistance.
Rather than responding in isolation, Senegal Action Féministe (SENAF) convened an intergenerational dialogue, bringing together veteran activists, young feminists, community actors, and institutional partners. This process created a shared space to align priorities, strengthen solidarity, and define a unified strategy. This collaborative process produced two key outcomes: the development of a consolidated feminist agenda and the co-creation of a national memorandum on femicide. These tools now anchor coordinated advocacy efforts to defend legal gains and resist rollback.
This shift from dispersed activism to collective political action has strengthened the movement’s visibility, credibility and influence in Senegal’s policy spaces. The movement became more unified, more visible, and more credible in engaging policy spaces. Feminist actors are now better positioned to engage institutions and push for accountability and positive change – once more demonstrating the power and impact of feminist movement building.
