By Talibeh Hydara, Ndey Sowe & Isatou Colley
Adama Bah lives in a two-bedroom house in Sukuta, a large suburban town and a political powerhouse in the West Coast Region. On the walls of her parlor, framed family pictures hang next to her party leader’s, Ousainu Darboe. She was a politician before the soldiers overthrew Dawda Kairaba Jawara, and one of many who insisted the country must return to democracy. In 1996, her journey with the newly formed United Democratic Party started.
Though the journey has been tough— littered with arrest of opposition figures, disappearances and torture— a much bigger test came in April 2016. Ousainu was sent on a three-year jail term, with dozens of his party’s executive members and supporters.
Out of this despair, and as the opposition found ways to coalesce and confront the dictatorship, a protest movement was born, the ‘Kalama Revolution! “The women came up with the calabash and broom strategy,” said Bah. “We agreed for all of us to carry calabashes and brooms to the court house. The Kalama Revolution was born out of frustration that nothing was working against Jammeh.”
As the women stormed Banjul, fear— which gave birth to the tyranny— literally left the city. Bah is a traditional singer, who spices up such gatherings. As were the story of Bah and her peers, Gambia’s 22–year slow, painful walk to freedom, is in large part written in the blood, sweat, and tears of women.
Bah paused, took a deep breath, and stared into the eyes of the reporter. “… Now, all my colleagues are either too old now or dead. Some of them were beaten and could not survive. But we know it was because of those sacrifices that Jammeh was defeated.”
They lead only when times are hard
A decade after the historic defiance of Bah, and her peers, a painful paradox stains the nation as the very women who built the stage of Gambian democracy have been systematically left behind in the sharing of power.
The physical and psychological toll of their bravery did not end when the dictatorship fell; it followed them into the peace they fought so hard to secure. In the years that followed, the vanguard of the Kalama Revolution began to perish, one by one, their bodies broken by the lingering aftermath of state-sponsored abuse and neglect. Iconic figures like Nogoi Njie and Sukai Dahaba passed away.
The ultimate tragedy of the post-Jammeh era, many analysts argue, is the profound betrayal of this legacy, where women are exploited for political upward mobility but discarded when seats are distributed. “Politcians establish all these parties for women,” Bah said. “It’s the women who suffer, who leave their gardens, their children, their homes to follow politicians in remote places for days to help them seek office.”
The structural barriers are many but one quoted often is lack of formal education. “Personally, I don’t have a position because I am not educated. I have a medal… If I was, I would be given a position. Every educated woman in this country desires to hold a position and we ought to hold positions,” said Bah
Reality is far from what is promised
The 2017 change came with the promise of inclusivity. The excitement that greeted the change encouraged a record number of people to contest for their positions. At least 238 candidates contested 53 seats in the National Assembly elections, a historic benchmark in the country’s democracy.
Out of the record number of contestants, 41 ran on independent tickets. Kaddijatou Jabbie, who contested for the Basse Constituency, was a solo female candidate in a pool of six. She came up against established political party picks vying for 7,601 votes in a town considered the second capital of The Gambia.
For the nomination fee, pegged at D5,000 in 2017, Kaddijatou still felt the pinch of paying that amount, in addition to campaign financing and had to rely on help. “As an independent candidate, I had support from the people of Basse, both in the country and the diaspora.”
Unfortunately for her, the support was not enough against resourced parties like APRC, GDC and UDP, polling 308 votes, a distant 6th behind the eventual winner Muhammed Magassy with 2,526 votes.
Nearly a decade later, with nomination fees skyrocketing, asked if she still retains an interest in testing the waters again. Her response was swift.
“No for now, because of the cost of the fees,” she said, adding that the exorbitant increase would be a high wall to scale for women independent aspirants. “The cost will affect women greatly because most will not be able to get the funds to contest.”
‘A system designed to protect old boys’ club’
In the entire electoral history of The Gambia, only two women ever managed to submit nomination papers to the Independent Electoral Commission for president. “When I submitted my nomination, I did not just submit papers, I submitted the hope of thousands of Gambian women who had never seen themselves on a presidential ballot. But what I found was a system designed to protect the old boys’ club,” Marie Sock-Jabbie, who became the first in 2021, said.
Marie has not given up. For her, it is not enough to make history as the first to submit nomination papers but the wall she faced in 2021 has only gotten higher.
“The system does not say women cannot run. It just makes it so expensive, so bureaucratic, and so punishing that only those with deep pockets and godfathers can survive. That is how you exclude women without ever writing it in the law. That is why I came back stronger in 2026 with the same Movement, the ASD. Because if the door is locked for independents, we will build our own house.”
The cost of politics was high. Now, it is much higher. In July 2025, the National Assembly approved significant increases in nomination fees. The nomination fees for president increased from D10,000 to D1 million; National Assembly increased from D5,000 to D150,000; mayor and chairperson increased to D100,000, while councillor increased from D3,000 to D10,000.
“… In The Gambia, political funding is not about ideas, it is about gambling. Big businesses and wealthy networks put their money on who they think will win, and for 60 years, they have only seen men win. So they only fund men. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Marie said.
“When I go to a Gambian businessman, he asks me, ‘Marie, can a woman really win?’ But when a male candidate goes to him, he asks, ‘how much do you need?’ That is the double standard.”
Only two women contested elections in the 2023 mayoral/chairmanship elections; Rohey Malick Lowe for UDP in the Banjul mayoral election and Jainaba Bah for PPP in the Brikama chairmanship election.
Jainaba ran unopposed for the former ruling party’s ticket and didn’t struggle either to pay the D2,500 nomination fee. Four years later, that fee has increased 40 fold. It is now a whopping D100,000.
“It’s rather unfortunate that the National Assembly increased the nomination fee. Considering how expensive it is to fund a campaign, and being a woman, it will be a big challenge for many people like me if we do not have any sponsorship,”said Jainaba.
“The high cost of nomination fees and campaign funding will without doubt deter many women from contesting… I spent a lot of money during my campaign because the West Coast Region is very big and reaching all the communities was not easy. There are over 300 polling stations and paying agents is costly.”
A country walking on one leg
In the colorful, high-energy theater of Gambian elections, women are the undeniable lifeblood of political campaigns. They constitute over 56% of registered voters, show up in the highest numbers at the ballot box, and form the vibrant base of mobilisers whose grassroots organising carries candidates to victory. Yet, when the music stops and the ballots are counted, the picture changes drastically. The halls of power remain overwhelmingly male.
Since universal adult suffrage was established in 1960, a staggering 22-year gap passed before Nyimasatta Sanneh-Bojang made history in 1982 as the first-ever elected female parliamentarian. In the decades since, structural stagnation has set in. In both the 2017 and 2022 legislative elections, exactly three women managed to win seats out of 53 contested constituencies. Men captured 94% of the elected legislature, leaving elected female representation hovering at a dismal 6%.
At the executive level, the door has been completely barred. The Gambia has seen three male presidents and zero women. While prominent figures like Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajang have announced candidacies in the past, they never progressed past the initial stages. In 2021, Marie Sock became the first woman to formally submit independent nomination papers for the presidency, only to have her bid rejected.
Throughout the first republic spanning over three decades, only one woman was ever elected into a public office. In the second republic spanning over two decades, 28 women won elected positions; five parliamentarians and 23 local councillors. In the new democratic dispensation spanning nearly a decade so far, 28 women won elections; five parliamentarians, 1 mayor and 22 local councillors.
In essence, since universal suffrage was granted, only 57 individual women have ever won a democratically contested election in The Gambia. This stark statistic is a main point cited by local activists pushing the legislature to fast-track a gender quota bill to guarantee women a permanent baseline of seats.
In contrast to the neighbours, there are currently 68 female parliamentarians in Senegal’s 165-seat National Assembly. That figure alone is more than the total number of women Gambians have voted into office in nearly seven decades since independence.
Push for parity quota
Senegal’s success in breaking through the structural glass ceiling followed stringent implementation of a legislated gender parity quota law in 2010. This law mandates that all political party candidate lists must alternate strictly between men and women.
In The Gambia, a similar campaign is in full swing. Following a national conference in December 2025, 18 political parties signed a landmark communiqué, committing to internal electoral reforms, including a minimum 30% gender quota in leadership and candidate selection processes, alongside a push for lower nomination fees.
As the country braces for another electoral cycle, it remains to be seen if the parties will honor the gender quota promise.
Fatou Baldeh, an award-winning activist, wrote a poignant piece on the consequences in the absence of women in decision-making positions. “Out of 58 National Assembly Members, only 5 were women, yet the future of generations of Gambian girls was being debated,” Fatou recalled, as the Gambian parliament considered a bill unbanning the anti-FGM law in 2024.
Her organisation, Women In Liberation and Leadership (WILL), has upped the ante in pushing for a parity quota by “identifying and supporting women aspiring to contest elections.”
While the parties’ promise only remains on paper, WILL is taking tangible steps as it targets 75 women aspirants across the country.
“This initiative is more than training future candidates, it is about creating pathways for women to lead, influence decisions, and shape the future of our communities. In 2024, we came together to defend a law protecting girls. In 2026/27, we are working to ensure that more women are sitting at the tables where decisions affecting our lives are made,” she wrote.
Marie Sock shares Fatou’s sentiments.
“When you price women out of the highest office, you price out the issues that matter to women: maternal health, market access, school fees, clean water. You cannot have a balanced budget when you silence the majority. On December 5th, 2026, Gambian women will not just vote, they will be voted for,” argued Sock.
Often illusive party tickets
According to the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) study on the Cost of Politics in The Gambia, women struggle immensely to secure party nominations due to targeted financial barriers. Internal party primaries routinely favor men, driven by deep pockets and entrenched traditional patronage networks.
Maimuna Gaye is a member of UNITE, a political party founded by the mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Talib Bensouda, after breaking away from the United Democratic Party. She’s the secretary general of the women’s wing.
“Securing a party ticket and running an election campaign can be expensive. Many women face difficulties accessing the financial resources needed to compete with male aspirants, particularly when they have limited access to personal wealth, business capital, or campaign funding,” she said.
She also believes having men dominate party structures, including candidate selection committees, has a huge bearing on women’s chances of securing party tickets.
Besides the selection criteria of the party, the men camped in the selection committees usually have their own set of demands.
According to a landmark research study by Satang Nabaneh, the gatekeepers of party nominations frequently weaponise their positions. One young female candidate interviewed for the study exposed a rampant culture of sexual extortion, recalling the blunt ultimatum she received from a party selector: “If you do not have time (sex) with me or date me, I will not select you.”
This story is produced as part of a project “Strengthening Electoral Integrity and Accountability” implemented by the Gambia Press Union and The Republic with funding from the National Endowment for Democracy. The views expressed in this article do not reflect the views of the donor.
