Abstract From a feminist and socio-cultural perspective, this study examines the roles of women in Fatou Diome’s novel Celles qui attendent (2010), and the impact these roles have on the women and their environment. Feminism is a universal concept, but it can have different meanings depending on geographical, cultural, religious, and historical factors. This paper discusses a specific feminist approach, namely African sub-Saharan feminism, by comparing it with Western feminist theory, specifically that of Simone de Beauvoir. With the aim of understanding which feminist ideas are reflected in the novel, the study compares and analyses specific situations in socio-cultural contexts, in which each of the four female protagonists finds themselves. The main questions addressed in the study are: how do the traditional roles of women described in Celles qui attendent (2010) affect the women themselves and the community in which they find themselves? How are feminist ideas expressed in the novel? The study reveals that in the struggle to maintain the most existential life (in a generally poor environment), the protagonists fight daily to improve the situation for their families. In this struggle, the women show a strength that in many cases exceeds that of the men in the novel. Therefore, for the four protagonists in Celles qui attendent (2010), the feminist struggle is not about liberation from male domination, but rather about subsisting theirs lives with dignity.