Le dilemme des Dakaroises : entre travailler et « bien travailler »

In Dakar, there exists an antagonism for a woman between working (performing an activity outside of the home) and “working well” (working for the future of her children in correctly taking care of her husband and family-in-law). Even so, more and more women are now encouraged to manage these two competing roles, which necessarily modifies relationships among spouses. The strong participation of women in urban economic activity is not a recent tendency, but tends to become more necessary to the survival of the household. Women’s professional activity is pursued as a relief of the husband’s responsibilities, and is increasing in Dakar. Because women’s professional activity is originally a reaction of survival, it is essentially confined to the informal sector; but for the educated elite woman, work plays before anything else an emancipating role. In losing its optional nature, the feminine work threatens the essential function of the husband.