Representation vs Participation

Submitted by Sandra Navarro on Tue, 2007-10-09 13:21.

A few months ago, I posted an article in Spanish about participation and representation of women in all kinds of electoral processes.

I have to say that the election to the Constituent Assembly on September 30 has changed the history of Ecuador. Political parties had to include into their lists 50/50 gender quota, which made equal representation real.

Men and women had the same opportunities to address people, explain their plans, have discussion panels about their platforms, and etc. Despite my position on the winners of the election, I believe it was a great process for women in Ecuador.

My main concern was that sometimes we do not believe in ourselves not because we lack skills or intelligence, but because we cannot convince people to vote for us. I am pretty sure now that we can count on people’s support. That does not mean that we won the battle. We can never put our hands down and it is the perfect time to work together with men for the world we want.

My congratulations to all the women who were part of this process and my best wishes for their actions.

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Women Politicians and Stigmas Around Them

Submitted by bsalimova on Thu, 2007-11-08 20:51.

Dear all,

I came across the article "Women refute 'sex for favours' stigma" and wanted to share it with you as it is relevant to our recent discussions on this forum. The article describes how women politicians in Botswana are usually stigmatized as promiscuous and less capable and how these societal stigmas affect women's confidence and willingness to participate in politics. To read the article, please click on the following link http://www.mmegi.bw/2007/November/Thursday8/1.php .

This article is another example of how many barriers women face trying to participate in politics. The question is what should women do to prove that they deserve being treated equally and respectfully by their counterparts? Does the problem lie with the attitudes of male politicians or with the stereotypes existing in certain cultures?

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions further on this forum.

Best,

Bahar

representation vs participation

Submitted by outalebfatima on Tue, 2007-10-09 21:19.

First congratulation to Sandra who has all the reasons to be proud of her achievement. However, I think that the people's reaction to women's political participation may be justified by the degree of their awareness,education and interrest in politics in general.

The thing one cannot undertand or justify is the degree of subjectivity and selfishness of most politicians when it comes to promotions, nominations and simply power.

As some of you might know , we just had legislative elections in Morocco, during which 34 women have been elected. I supported my friend who won and who was happy like Sandra and full of hope and ambitions.

Although my friend has been in politics for more than thirty years, she is facing a lot of difficulties and suffering from her male colleagues from the same party who didn't win the elections. She was openly told that she should not dream of any nominations in the government and she was denied all the chances to exercise more responsibility because she cannot dream of more than she has as a WOMAN.

Politics in my country is still a male domain. Women have to cope with what is given to them by their male colleagues, so we should not blame it all on people, but rather on those who preach ideas and values, which they deny to women within their circle.

Re: Participation vs. Representation

Submitted by bsalimova on Thu, 2007-10-11 19:18.

I would like to congratulate both Sandra and Fatima's friend for their political achievements. Although women face more barriers while participating in politics, recent developments have proven that women can climb the political ladder and can be successful leaders. Each country's political context and culture should be used to identify what needs to be done to increase women's participation in public life. In some countries, developing public confidence in women leaders might be a top priority for the advancement of women in politics and might require a nation-wide public awareness campaign. In other countries, the priority might be to work with governments and legislatures to adopt gender sensitive laws and policies. In both cases, it is important to strive for real powers that allow women leaders to form policy agendas and participate in decision-making processes.

Representation vs Participation

Submitted by Edwin Nebolisa on Tue, 2007-10-09 17:26.

Dear Sandra, I am indeed glad that you made it at last, I promise to be one of the first person to congratulate you and that is what am doing now.

I just have an important advice for you and all women that are struggling for gender equality. We men are very tricky. We will try to lead you into temptation just as we have succeeded with the first Nigerian female speaker and the next thing you will hear is - crucify her.

Winning an election is one thing, carrying out your mandate is another, so keep focused and make both men and women be proud of you.

We would like to invite you to our forthcoming conference to share your experience with our participants.

Congratulations!

To perfect time to work together with men for the world we want.

Submitted by Bisumbula - lutha on Fri, 2007-10-12 13:54.

I am so happy to read Sandra's message. The way Ecuador resolved the participation of women in political parties is very good. There are many women working with political parties to mobilize support, but they don't have opportunity to be nominated as candidates by their political parties.

It is a good idea to have a law on organization and operation of political parties requiring to include women in decision-making processes. It will be important to add the requirement for proportional lists. I agree with Sandra on 50/50 lists for participation of men and women.

South Africa and Mozambique did the same with ANC and Frolimo political parties on proportional lists.

Sandra said that : "We can never put our hands down and it's the perfect time to work together with men for the world we want". It is correct. Because political parties are headed by men, it is important to change mentality and stereotypes of men and to sensitize them. In Kenya that is what is happening in political parties.

In our society, men and women were born to be together. It is important to involve men in our actions. To work with men is a strategy that we can adopt.

In DRC, since the colonial time, only men worked in the colonial administration Women received their voting rights only in 1967, that came into effect in 1970. Thus, we are still young in politics and we have many things to learn. Excluding men from our actions will not advance us.

We want a world of peace, freedom and equality.

BISUMBULA - LUTHA
Chargée de la section femme et enfant du Rodhecic