An organisation representing African working women on Monday denounced a decision to overturn a law that would have guaranteed a minimum number of female deputies in Parliament.
Rafet, the African Network of Working Women, said Friday’s decision by the constitutional council to overturn the law was disappointing, but urged President Abdoulaye Wade to persevere with such legislation.
The council ruled that a law passed by Parliament late March violated the Constitution, thus vindicating the 12 opposition deputies, including two women, who had brought the case before them.
The Constitution only granted rights to citizens and not to categories of citizens, said the ruling.
The law, which its backers had described as “salutary and revolutionary”, would have meant that at least 30 women would have been among the 150 deputies of the parliamentary Assembly — 20% of the total.
“Now the constitutional obstacle must be lifted,” said Rafet president Amsatou Sow Sidibe, a law professor at a leading Dakar university.
“That is possible simply by the parliamentary route. It is a question of human rights and democracy,” she said.
Senegal in any case currently has about 19% female representation in Parliament, which puts it 13th on the list of African countries, and 56th worldwide — ahead of Italy and France. — Sapa-AFP