ABSTRACT
A Reperusal of The Accounts written by dealers living in Senegal towards the end of the last century 1 raises the question as to whether there is any point in describing once again the life of Wolof and Lebu women in the Dakar urban area, since so little seems to have changed since then. To be sure, the landscape has been greatly altered, and it is no longer an adventure for a European to go unaccompanied from Dakar to Wakam. This does not, however, alter the fact that, in spite of the technological improvements that have been introduced, the living conditions of women have remained almost untouched by them, even in the town. It is true that it is now possible to take a fast train or a taxi to get from one place to another. It is no longer necessary to go to the well to draw water, since there are taps at all the street corners; but the amount of time wasted in awaiting one’s turn to fill up one’s bowl is still considerable. In short, in all its essentials, the life of a woman today does not appear to be very different from what her mother’s or her grandmother’s must have been.
