Thursday, November 5, 2015

Women and Democratization: The specific case of Mali

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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PomDRV_Lhs                                                                       Reference
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




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