A New Take on "Women in Development"

            The subject of development often focuses on women. Popular topics include the role of women in society, politics, and the economy and the empowerment of women.  Despite the prominence of the subject of women in discussions on development, I've never truly noticed its importance until our trip to Keur Alioue Guèye, a small, rural village in the south of Fatick region, during our field trip to Toubacouta. It was here where I really saw that, because of their involvement in and unique understanding of everyday life, women must be recognized as key players in development.

It was the discussion on education that made me realize this importance. Someone in our group asked a question about the state of education for the people and their children.  Although it was the school teacher, who had been more or less leading the discussion, to whom the question was initially addressed, everyone immediately gave the floor to women. There was one woman in particular who spoke. So from the start, we could see the acknowledgement of the community that it is the women who are the most knowledgeable when it comes to the lives of the children.

She explained, with the strong support of the rest of the community, that everyone wants to send their children to school.  She also point out that, unfortunately, due to the village's location, it is almost impossible even to attend elementary school, particularly for girls. In addition, she stated that children can go to primary school in Toubacouta a nearby, larger village, but it is more difficult to go to high school, because it is Sokone. To clarify the significance of its locations, Keur Alioue Gueye is about 20 minutes from Toubacouta, and 50 from Sokone by car. Therefore children must walk or bike a very considerable distance every day for something that is, for much of the world, an automatic part of life, education.

She explained how the education of the children, or lack thereof, affects the village as a whole.  For Keur Alioue Guèye to become functionally integrated into the national economy and society, it is the children who will have to figure out how to improve the village's participation, so they must have at least a high school, and preferably a college level education.  Many of these observations were things that only women could know, thanks to their role as mothers and heads of the family. It was this explanation that revealed to me that when talking about the role of women in development, the purpose should be to ensure that, because the woman's role and point of view is so unique and important, it is not diminished or forgotten.