Democratization and the Hidden Public: The Impact of Patronage Networks on Senegalese Women

Abstract

Over the last decade a vast literature has evaluated the worldwide trend toward political liberalization in terms of institutional reforms and the prospects for democratization.1 Although the resulting theories of democratic transition and consolidation have often focused on elections as a measure of a regime's relative success in democratizing, the question of who is empowered by the electoral process is seldom addressed beyond a discussion of the need for transparency and alternation between incumbent and opposition parties. The implied assumption is that all citizens benefit from greater electoral competition, even if it is among political parties dominated by a ruling class of male elites. In sub-Saharan Africa Senegal has been at the forefront of democratization for over two decades. During this time the number of women elected to political office has increased at all levels of government. Under Senegal's one party state (1963-1975) only a handful of women was nominated for office, typically the wives and relatives of well-placed male politicians. With the return to a multiparty system, the number of female deputies has now reached over 15 percent of the national assembly.2 Nevertheless, Senegalese women continue to confront many challenges, such as exclusion from positions of influence within state and party structures, manipulation of women's auxiliaries by the male leadership of political parties, and a lack of resources to mobilize and sustain political support. These difficulties may be attributed in part to cultural conceptions of political leadership as a traditionally male role. However, equally important, democratic reforms have not altered the patrimonial nature of Senegalese politics, which imposes structural constraints on the political participation of women, as well as other political minorities, who have had at best marginal access to Senegal's patronage networks. The continued importance of patronage politics in both Senegal and Africa in general suggests the need to look beyond women's legal rights and election to office to less visible or formalized political activities in order to assess the degree to which women are full participants in the political process. By focusing on the reform of formal institutions, constitutions, and electoral codes, studies of democratization have often ignored the fact that legal rights do not