In Senegal, balancing motherhood and a career remains a major challenge for women. The lack of accessible public daycare centers, the prohibitively high prices of private facilities, and their often-poor quality push many mothers to sacrifice their ambitions. Between concerns for their children's safety and exorbitant costs, some choose to quit their jobs or abandon their studies. In this report, Seneweb gives a voice to women facing this dilemma, revealing a reality that hinders female empowerment.

In Dakar, working women face a complex equation when it comes to entrusting their children to daycare. Supposed to support working mothers, these facilities are often deemed too expensive, inaccessible, or unreliable. Some women, lacking the means, give up their jobs, while others, even those financially stable, do so due to a lack of trust in private daycares. This is the case of Marième Sall, a former sales director in a large company. After several traumatic experiences, she chose to leave her job to care for her child. “It's not a question of money. My husband and I could afford a quality daycare. But after repeated negligence, I realized that no price guaranteed my baby's well-being,” she confides.

She recounts a powerful experience: "My son was only three months old. I paid 100,000 CFA francs a month, but he came back with unchanged diapers, rashes, and in a poorly maintained environment. One day, I found him alone, crying, while the nurses were on their phones. I decided to remove him immediately," she says.

For Marième, a mother after eight years of marriage, entrusting her "treasure" to strangers is no longer an option. "No salary, no position is worth more than him. I no longer have confidence in daycare centers, nannies, or even my relatives. What they do in your presence and in your absence is different. The State must act to resolve this equation that shatters the dreams of so many women," she pleads, calling on MPs to address this issue in the National Assembly.

Dreams shattered by the cost of daycare

Unlike Marième, Daba Diop, a former management student at UCAD (FASEG), saw her future turned upside down by exorbitant daycare fees. A single mother with no support, she dreamed of a career in banking, but reality caught up with her. "Daycares charged between 75,000 and 80,000 CFA francs per month. At five months old, my baby couldn't stay at the social campus, and I couldn't afford daycare," she explains, her voice filled with resignation. Lacking an alternative, Daba dropped out of school and returned to her village to raise her child. Today, she makes her way in online sales, a far cry from her initial ambitions. She also criticizes UCAD's recent decision to ban babies from lecture halls: "It is a discriminatory and unfair measure, especially for married students or single mothers who cannot afford a nursery for their babies. University authorities must find a solution: either establish nursery facilities in universities or reverse this decision to allow women to continue their studies."

Between Sacrifice and Resilience: Bineta Kane's Fight

Bineta Kane, an employee at a legal consulting firm, embodies the resilience of many Senegalese mothers. Although concerned about the quality of daycare centers, she continues to entrust her daughter to them for lack of an alternative.

"I pay 95,000 CFA francs a month, an exorbitant rate. There are too many children for too few staff, but turning a blind eye is often the only option. Staying at home is not an option for me," she confides. Bineta highlights an alarming consequence: "This situation pushes many women to resort to contraception right after marriage, for fear of the obstacles that motherhood imposes on their careers.

For her, giving up a career after years of study is a "silent violence."

She calls for collective mobilization: "Women's organizations must lead this fight. The state, businesses, and local authorities must create accessible and well-supervised daycare centers to relieve women."

Senegal: Only 17% of children aged 0 to 6 have access to childcare services

According to the Regional Consortium for Research in General Economics (CREG), Senegal has a very low rate of access to childcare services. The CREG study reveals that only 17% of children aged 0 to 6 have access to childcare services, which significantly limits women's ability to fully participate in the labor market.

An article published on July 28, 2023 by Rewmi.com also confirms this figure.

A barrier to women's empowerment

These testimonies, supported by statistics, highlight a cruel reality: in Senegal, motherhood is becoming a major obstacle to women's professional emancipation. The lack of reliable, accessible, and quality childcare forces some to abandon their careers, their studies, or even to leave Dakar. This phenomenon constitutes a silent obstacle to women's empowerment and equal opportunities, raising a crucial question: why should giving birth compromise women's professional ambitions?

Access to childcare services: The alarm call from women's organizations

Faced with this crisis, the National Network of Working Women of Senegal (RENAFETS) is sounding the alarm. Fatou Binetou Yaffa, president of the organization, denounces this unacceptable situation: "Private daycare centers charge exorbitant rates, between 75,000 and 100,000 CFA francs per month, unaffordable for many. It is time that this problem is recognized as a major obstacle to women's integration into the labor market. No woman should give up on her dreams because of the cost or the lack of reliable daycare centers."

RENAFETS proposes concrete solutions: investing in quality public daycare centers, strengthening the regulation of private daycare centers, subsidizing costs for vulnerable families, and making the installation of daycare centers in large companies mandatory.

Additionally, the organization launched the Counting Women's Work (CWW) project, funded by the Hewlett Foundation and implemented with the Population Reference Bureau (PRB). This program aims to quantify the burden of unpaid family care work, such as childcare, which hinders women's empowerment. While awaiting a response from the authorities, RENAFETS calls for collective action to guarantee women's right to work and thrive without sacrificing their role as mothers.