The significance of the UN Decade for Women, in Africa as a whole and in Senegal in particular, must be assessed not only in terms of what was gained and what was not, but also in terms of where we started and the odds we were up against. For women in Africa, the decade meant the droit a la parole — the right to speak out, and the right be heard -- whether this right was won or granted, exercised spontaneously or in organized ways, and even if it was controlled or censored. Discourse by women on women was opened. Women seized the right to speak for themselves about themselves, sometimes freely, and sometimes cautiously within imposed limits.