Arab women demand participation in political process

The first 'Democratic Forum for Arab Women' wrapped up this week in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, calling for women in Arab countries to be given no less than 20 percent representation in political decision-making. The forum, using the slogan "political empowerment of women is a necessary step towards political reform in the Arab states", brought together more than 70 women from 21 Arab states. A closing statement at the end of the three-day conference, organised by the Yemen-based Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF) in collaboration with the Dutch government, also demanded political reforms, multi-party political systems and peaceful rotation of power. Delegates called for special programmes to enable female candidates to participate in elections, for training on how to run electoral campaigns and deal with the press, and for the setting up of funds to help women meet campaign expenses. Yemeni women presented a petition to President Ali Abdullah Saleh demanding he amend the election laws to allocate a quota of seats in parliament to women. While the number of women voters has soared to over 3.5 million out of a potential 8 million, only 15 women stood for election in 2003 out of 1,396 candidates competing for 301 seats. Later, four women candidates withdrew and only one woman won a seat. "Decision-making is a right of all; we have gathered here to ask for the [same] rights as Arab men and in particular for women to enjoy their political rights," Amal Basah, SAF's chairwoman told IRIN. "We demand amendments to all policies, legislation, family laws, political parties, elections," she added. The conference debated political empowerment of women, the implications of their political representation, and conditions, experiences and status of the women's movement in Arab countries. The participants debated working papers from Morocco, Mauritania, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman and Libya. In her speech at the inauguration ceremony of the event, Amat al-Aleem Assouswa, Yemen's Minister of Human Rights, called for the "political empowerment of women in Arab countries through active representation and participation in the parliaments... which will test the competence and eligibility of Arab women to take over key positions." Women in Yemen are still fighting hard for their rights in a society that is plagued by poverty and illiteracy. Since the parliamentary elections in 1993, the participation of women in Yemen as candidates has decreased. In the 1997 parliamentary elections, the number of women candidates went down from 52 in 1993 to only 19 candidates. In a conservative society like Yemen, where tradition still dictates that women work inside the home, very few women are in influential positions. There is only one female minister and one woman member of parliament. Women are also not able to find their way into important positions in the judiciary, such as the Supreme Court. "Men in Yemen want women as voters only, rather than strong challengers," Rasheedah al-Hamdani, chairwoman of the Woman's National Committee, told IRIN.