By interviewing young Senegalese migrants in Dakar, Paris, and New York, I chose to put migrants’ voices at the core of my analysis on immigration issues. Social unease and the guilt of not being able to provide for their families seem to be a widespread motivation to emigrate. Are young Senegalese women free to exert their agency when they decide to move to France or the United States of America, or are they mostly hindered by social structure on their journey to economic success and social recognition? Youth are herein defined as under 35 years old.

Regardless of the age limit of 35 years, single or unmarried people tend to remain within the youth category in Senegal, no matter how old they are. In fact, the youth living in Senegal seldom leave their parents’ household unless they get married or move to another town or country, although they are sometimes financially independent. In Senegal, someone can be 50 years old and still be considered as a child because they still live in their parents’ house. Young girls (children per se) in rural areas often have the responsibility to cook meals and become caregivers. In these examples, the meaning of youth in Senegal differs from that of western countries, where being young is sometimes associated with carelessness or lack of responsibility. Age on its own can become irrelevant in determining what a young woman is in the context of Senegal, but migration and marriage seem to grant adulthood thanks to the associated attainment of economic power.

This chapter proposes to explain the transformation of young Senegalese women's status through their migration to Paris and New York, and to show how their journeys have shifted migrants’ identities and disrupted traditional patterns of masculinity and femininity. It addresses the links between their roles of spouses, mothers, and autonomous individuals in a quest for success. The intersectionality between a feminine condition and a migrant's condition is relevant to study Senegalese women's immigration in France and the United States, since their migration to both countries has modified traditional Senegalese social and cultural interactions. Discussions are based on fieldwork in Dakar, Paris, and New York.