The first Senegalese feminist forum was held between 7th-9th August 2009. The meeting brought together 30 women from different backgrounds including community based women’s representatives, women’s human rights activists, writers, film makers, lecturers and women from the development sector.
The objectives of the Forum were:
- To create an effective feminist movement in Senegal as well as a safe and autonomous space for feminist organizing.
- To discuss critical issues affecting the women’s movement in Senegal.
- To develop strategies to promote feminist leadership in women‘s organizations in Senegal and to look into how best the charter of feminist principles can be domesticated by women’s organizations in Senegal.
The Forum was held because there is a need to strengthen the feminist movement in Senegal, create feminist spaces and to put the feminist movement of the country on a solid ground. Feminists in Senegal want the women’s movement to be dynamic, the forum was to help strategize to include the youth in the feminist struggle as the leadership believes, the youth are the future and they should take up the work of fighting for women’s rights.