According to the UN
Global Issue (2015), women represent
about 50% of the world population, and as such their voice matters in
democratization. A real democracy, needs to emphasize women participation . It
is mainly through democratic representation that women can make their voices
heard. Women representation is stated in article 7 of the Convention for the
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)“…ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right: (a) To vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible
for election to all publicly elected bodies; (b) To participate in the formulation of government policy and the
implementation thereof and to hold public office and perform all public
functions at all levels of government”. Women’s role
in democratization is also emphasized on the
2011 UN General Assembly resolution on women political participation (A/RES/66/130), which reaffirms “that the active participation of women, on equal
terms with men, at all levels of decision-making is essential to the
achievement of equality, sustainable development, peace and democracy”. Although
some progress have been made in women representation, the expected results ,
which was an equal political representation of men of women, have not been
achieved.
In Mali, for example, women are still facing obstacles regarding
political representation in the government. According to the National
democratic Institute (2014), there were only 14 women were represented at the
malian parliament after the legislation poll in 2013, accounting for about 10
percent of the total members. Actually, this is the result of a malian law
which states that men are the head of the households and their wives should be
their subordinates. Although this obstacle, malian women are committed to be
more represented in public life. They want more representation in the
government.
Mali has suffered a political and humanitarian crisis after the
military coup which ousted the democratically elected president Amadou Toumani
Toure.The northern part of Mali was occupied by islamist radical implementing a
harsh interpretation of the Islamic law. Many people, especially women fled the
northern part of Mali.This situation has considerably changed the role of
women. In addition to doing their traditional jobs ( cooking, cleaning and
raising children), women became providers for their families in spite of their
small opportunities in the society.
A focus group was established to help the malian government understand
women concerns about opportunities and the challenges they face. The group
discovered that the scarcity of job was mainly due to problem related to the
access to education of women, especially girls.The group emphasized the need of
representation of women since political parties rarely accept women candidates.
“In
developing the [electoral] lists, the party is putting the names of five or six
men before putting the name of a woman,” said a young woman from Bandiagara. “I
think it’s not fair. I want women to be on the list.”
Nowadays, many malian women are involved in presidential and legislative
elections because they want to have more female representation in the
government to better defend their interests. They represent considerable voices
that are affecting malian government structure. The process is slow, but
promising. It becomes more and more evident that Mali will have a female
president very soon.
Global Issues.(2015). Retrieved from: http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/democracy/women.shtml National Democratic Institution (2014). Retrieved from: https://www.ndi.org/mali-women-focus-group
No comments:
Post a Comment