DISCORD

The aim of this project is to contribute to the study of gendered division of domestic and parental work in Senegalese couples. It will focus on women living and working in Dakar who are university graduates, with the aim of uncovering the social effects of their penetration into domains that today are still essentially male preserves. The project is a direct follow-up to the exploratory project "reconciling work with family life in Dakar" (ARTIFAM, GIS-Gender, 2014-15), that gave rise to 20 qualitative interviews carried out with women from diverse social backgrounds in Dakar. The aim of this new project is to broaden the scope of the analysis by interviewing men and women and by producing a quantitative survey that will allow comparisons with data from the program "Families, Gender and Activities" (FAGEAC, ANR-10-SUDS-005-01, 2011-14). The objective is to highlight the situation in Dakar, but also to develop international comparisons, first with others capitals of West Africa providing a basis for a methodological, theoretical and political debate on trans-societal aspects of gender inequality. Secondly, the project will serve as a springboard for developing new initiatives in the future, focusing in particular on the comparative aspects of research on gender inequalities. The team aims to create a largest network on these issues by drawing comparisons with recent Northern research and by going beyond the traditional dichotomy between North and South. The project seeks to address three complementary research issues: (1) Career and profiles of working university graduate women (2) Social and sexual division of work within university graduate couples (3) Educational models and gender socialization. Through the combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis, this research will offer a survey of major statistical trends and a comparison between privileged and less privileged social groups, and enable a finer understanding of the social dynamics at work, in particular in highly educated couples. Initially, the team will conduct secondary analysis of existing data, and then will design and implement, in Dakar, a new quantitative survey. These data will enable comparisons with the datasets of the FAGEAC program. Biographical interviews will be carried out with couples, mainly university graduates, but also from other social backgrounds. The research will be spread over 36 months. This extended duration is justified by the nature of the project, the aim of is to produce wide-ranging quantitative data and in-depth qualitative data (through interviews and direct observation). It will be conducted by a team of junior and senior French and Senegalese researchers, from different disciplines (demography, sociology, anthropology, statistical sciences) and varied methodological profiles (quantitative/qualitative) that will ensure suitable and valid conditions for successfully carrying out a project based on the interfacing of methods and fields. The project aims to shed a new scientific light on issues that have strong social, political and economic implications for contemporary African societies: women's activities, reconciling work and family life, parenthood, childhood and education. The team will thus contribute to academic debate at national and transnational levels, and disseminate its results to the scientific community, to policy makers and to civil society, by developing a range of communication tools: scientific and general public papers; working papers and online newsletter; film-portraits and CD-Roms; organization of scientific events and meetings with different audiences. The wealth of material collected and the analyses to be carried out will offer the coordinator new professional opportunities, including the writing of an Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (qualification prerequisite for the rank of professor).