Re:Code club Senegal, where women are leading the way
by rokhayakebe on Tuesday July 26, 2016 @11:34AM
(#12166338)
>>If there is such a thing as a patriarchal society, Senegal is certainly still an example of it.
Quite frankly I lived in the US since 2001, and I just got back from Senegal. I can tell you there is not much of a difference when it comes to freedom of choice for women. However there is definitely social pressure.
Also there is a night-and-day difference between the Capital where 30% of the population lives, and villages deep inside the country.
You're right that it is important to not exclusively support women but I don't think this programme is going to tilt the balance dangerously. We're talking about a country that has a literacy rate of 74.2% for men and 56.2% for women, not to mention problems like child labour, child marriages and female genital mutilation[0][1]. A code camp for women isn't going to turn this into a dystopian matriarchy.
I would normally be the kind of person to be called anti-SJW but Senegal is definitely a country that is in a cultural position where Feminism can address significant concerns much like it did in those Western countries over the past century. If there is such a thing as a patriarchal society, Senegal is certainly still an example of it.
[0]: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/senegal_statistics.html
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Senegal