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The Financial Inclusion of Women in Senegal

Women in Senegal
Despite making some considerable progress in areas of political representation and educational enrolment, women in Senegal still have many challenges to surmount. Women in Senegal make up the majority of the population — 51% in 2020 — yet about 33% of employed Senegalese females 15 and older live “below the international poverty line.” In comparison, this rate stands at about 27% for males in the same category, a 6% lower rate. The financial inclusion of women in Senegal increases the likelihood of them rising out of poverty.

Gender Issues Women in Senegal Face

In an interview with The Borgen Project, retired U.N. Women regional director (West Africa), Cecile Mukarubuga, says that “in addition to a lack of education, [women face] structural barriers [such as] negative social norms that claim that women can’t make decisions or own property or assets.” Outdated gender norms see little place for women in Senegal outside household duties. Although women’s participation in the workforce is increasing as the years’ pass, standing at 40% in 2019, most women’s employment does not extend beyond the informal sector. In addition, men in this sector earn “82.9% more than women.”

Gender violence, female genital mutilation, underage marriage and cultural perceptions serve as significant hindrances to women’s autonomy and development and also impact their overall well-being and standing in society. According to a 2018 UNICEF report, in Senegal, 1.6 million girls and women faced childhood marriages. While there are laws and policies in place that protect women from violence, cultural traditions that value men and see a specific place for women hold more societal weight.

An example of this is the practice of female genital mutilation, which can lead to severe health complications or even death among girls and women in Senegal. Even though Senegal declared the practice illegal as early as 1999, the practice continues as it is a deeply entrenched cultural tradition. According to UNICEF data, “one in four women” between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced female genital mutilation in Senegal.

Financial Inclusion of Women in Senegal

In a world of gender inequality, financial inclusion can enhance women’s economic agency by equipping them with financial services and products that may improve their economic standing. This includes ensuring women have greater control of economic assets as well as equal access to opportunities and financial resources, such as bank accounts, inheritance, insurance and credit programs.

These financial resources are essential in ensuring women in Senegal are able to break poverty cycles. “For the short term, the best strategy would be to advocate for financial institutions to design financial products and services that meet the needs and capacity of women,” Mukarubuga says. However, she also notes that, first, “there’s a need to transform mindsets and change mentalities.”

Whether these advantages materialize as expanding small businesses, managing cash flow or even increasing assets, financial inclusion and opportunities would activate the untapped economic potential of Senegalese women, even setting the stage for them to be a part of the economic decisions in the household. Financial inclusion means families can look beyond “survival mode” and properly plan for their futures. “Women need a security net because when they do get a loan, most use it to feed their children or meet basic needs, so there is a need to adjust the supporting strategy to the most vulnerable women,” notes Mukarubuga.

United Nations Capital Development Fund

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) aims to address gender inequality in Senegal and increase the financial inclusion of women in Senegal. Primarily working with girls and women 10 years and older, the UNCDF looks to improve “awareness of, access to, use of and control over appropriate financial products and services.” Additionally, the organization works to address the socio-cultural environment in hopes of improving the agency of women and girls. In this way, the UNCDF strengthens female “economic empowerment and participation” in Senegal, which play an essential role in their ability to rise out of poverty.

The UNCDF runs various empowerment programs covering areas such as agriculture, digital finance and business management. In 2014, through a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, UNCDF launched a Mobile Money for the Poor Programme(MM4p) that works to address the lack of digital financial inclusion in West Africa. The program was particularly successful in Senegal. From 2014 to 2020, the digital financial inclusion rate rose “from 13% to 29%.” In 2016 alone, women accounted for 10% of digital finance users in Senegal. The program also helped people set up digital wallets and connected local businesses to the digital payment service.

Looking Ahead

While the financial inclusion of women in Senegal is not an all-encompassing solution to dissolving the complex gender inequality issues within the nation, it serves as an empowerment tool to help women progress in society. The financial inclusion of women in Senegal stands as a potential pathway out of poverty for the nation’s female population.

– Owen Mutiganda
Photo: Flickr

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Energy for All: Empowering Women in Senegal

Women in Senegal
One of the most crucial needs for countries around the world is widespread renewable energy access. In Senegal, limited energy access in rural areas has impeded economic development for years, with only 44% of households in rural Senegal having access to electricity in 2018. With such a lack of access, rural communities are limited to rudimentary energy sources such as wood-burning fires for cooking, lighting, warmth and other needs. For rural Senegalese businesses, renewable energy could dramatically improve food production and work efficiency. For example, instead of drawing water from a well one bucket at a time, farmers in Senegal could simply use a solar-powered water pump, saving a lot of time and expending far less physical energy.

Rural agricultural businesses, like market gardens, are in dire need of these technology upgrades as well as equal energy access between rural men and women. Market gardening is a popular agricultural technique utilized by smaller-scale farmers in Senegal, and most of the market gardening businesses are run by women. In fact, women in Senegal comprise 70% of the total rural employment workforce, making them the cornerstone of the country’s agricultural and livestock farming sectors. The empowerment campaign Energy 4 Impact is supporting rural women not only in their pursuit of widespread access to clean and renewable energy but also in the promotion of women’s autonomy and equality.

Energy 4 Impact’s “Energy Opportunities for Women in Senegal” Project

Energy 4 Impact is a non-profit organization partnering with local businesses to extend access to energy in Africa. It is working alongside Siggil Jigeen, a non-governmental organization that promotes and protects women’s rights in Senegal through the Energy Opportunities for Women in Senegal Project. The project aims not only to supply rural communities in Senegal with sustainable, efficient energy, but also to increase women’s contribution across the entirety of Senegal’s energy value chain. The project is active within the Tambacounda and Kedougou regions in Senegal, marked by characteristically high poverty and unemployment rates, low access to electricity, the dependence on solid fuel, the high level of working poor and the untapped potential for agricultural development.

So far, the program has empowered over “250 women-led Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs)” in rural areas. It hopes that by increasing the presence of sustainable energy sources, more economic opportunities will manifest themselves for women-run agricultural operations. The project has provided Senegalese women and women-run MSEs with reusable energy technologies (solar-powered pumps, solar lamps and freezers) and improved equipment for crop treatment. Besides supplying equipment, the project has held seminars providing women in Senegal with key entrepreneurial information that further empowers them as businesswomen. The project teaches business skills like record keeping, using financial services, networking and business autonomy, among others. Women are at the heart of Senegal’s agricultural scene, and this empowerment campaign has further secured their position as the country’s main actors along the energy value chain.

Project Impact

The project’s impact on women in Senegal is significant. A study found that married women entrepreneurs who participated in the project were more directly involved in decision-making, household investments/spending and health than other married women. Moreover, it was noted that most of the women who attended the informational seminars were more cognizant of “women’s energy needs,” their part in the energy sector and the numerous benefits yielded by actively participating in the country’s energy sector.

The Energy Opportunities for Women in Senegal Project has made tremendous progress by disseminating useful information and energy technologies throughout rural Senegal, but the country’s fight for energy is far from over. Energy access gender gaps and low female employment rates still plague Senegal’s urbanized areas. However, Energy 4 Impact has given hundreds of businesswomen in Tambacounda and Kedougou the tools needed to reach out to other women throughout Senegal, and hopefully empower them in the same way that they have been.

– Maxwell Karibian
Photo: Flickr