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Election Observations

Egypt: Islamist, liberal parties fielded few female candidates, says report

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Wed, 2012-02-01 14:39

Summary: 

Neither the Islamist nor liberal parties fielded a significant number of female candidates on their lists in the recently held parliamentary elections, a report revealed.

The report, issued by a program at Nazra for Feminist Studies, showed that the average Islamist party list was made up of 16 percent female candidates, while “civil” parties — often considered more liberal — averaged 17.5 percent women on their lists.

In its report, Nazra’s Academy for Women’s Political Participation program investigates why so few women were successful in their bid for parliament and explains how few women ran in the first place.

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Read more in The Daily News Egypt, published 1. February


Egypt: Women heed warning from Iranian women on rights

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2012-01-31 13:54

Summary: 

Sanaa Roshdy, 54, a housewife in Cairo, Egypt's capital, was one of many Egyptians who watched the warning message in a YouTube video that began to circulate last year named "Message From Iranian Women to Tunisian and Egyptian Women."

The video features pictures of the life of Iranian women before and after the Islamic revolution there in 1979. Depicting a reversal of women's rights with the implementation of Islamic rule after the revolution, the video warns women in Egypt and Tunisia to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to them after revolutions in both countries a year ago and Islamic groups looking to assume leadership.

"I've heard people talking about the resemblance between the Egyptian revolution and the Islamic revolution many times," Roshdy says. "It never made sense to me until I saw this video."

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Read more in Trust Law, published 29 Jan


Arab States: No Arab Spring without women

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2012-01-27 12:59

Summary: 

Under the banner of “No Spring without Women,” a Lebanese feminist organisation has organized a march in Beirut, as part of the 5th New Arab Woman Forum. The slogan of the march is “Sawa Sawa”, which in this context means “Let’s walk together, let’s make it together”, calling for a Spring that includes both men and women. Before getting the invitation to this march, my mind was already preoccupied with the future of Arab women after the revolutions and how women’s status might be impacted in each of the Arab countries. My concern is: can there be Arab union or organisation to sustain Arab women’s status in the post-revolution era?

Women in the Arab world have suffered in the revolutions, but the question now is, what will the outcome of all this suffering and sacrifice be? To date, the revolutions have not resulted in any improvement in women’s status. In Egypt, there are now voices saying that women should leave the revolution to men, and during a demonstration on International Women’s Day in March, men jeered at the women marching, telling them to go home and feed their babies.

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Read more in Alarbiya.net, published 25 January


Egypt: Experts weigh in on low female representation in parliament

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Fri, 2012-01-27 12:55

Summary: 

Very few female candidates ran in the nation’s parliamentary elections and even fewer have been elected: 10 took the oath last Monday.

Eight women elected and two appointed women make up less than two percent of the 508 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament. Considering the proportion of women who applied, the chances weren’t big. In the capital for example, only 80 women ran compared to 1,010 men.

Echoing the concern that parties were playing politics early on was Omaima Kamel, one of the newly elected parliament members under the Freedom and Justice Party. “Women are put to fulfill criteria on the list,” she said, explaining that parties were worried women won’t have a positive impact on the lists in terms of attracting voters.

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Read more in The Daily News Egypt


Egypt: women missing from formal politics

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Mon, 2012-01-23 13:39

Summary: 

The remarkable revelation of the Egyptian revolution concerns women. It turns out that the women of Egypt are at the heart of our politics.

Since January 2011, a new wave of recognition for women’s political leadership and dynamism has swept the country. It began with female bloggers who inspired action through their words, and continued with hundreds of thousands of women from all over Egypt standing side by side with men in the streets and in Tahrir. Ladies also launched clashes between Copts and Muslims by their choices of lovers and religions. There are also the activists who have maintained a plethora of popular protest movements against military transgressions for the rights of the dead and injured and on behalf of unlawful detainment and torture in prisons.

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Yet women are near absent from this parliament. There are eight women who have succeeded in winning seats and two who have been appointed. That means that two per cent of parliament has gone to women. The world average for female representation in elected legislative bodies is 19 per cent and the Arab world average is 13 per cent.

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Read more in Ahram online, publised 22. Jan


Brazil: Women Take Power in Government

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2012-01-19 07:37

Summary: 

Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, has quickly stepped out of the shadow of her charismatic predecessor Lula. After one year in office, she is more popular than any former president was at this stage. She has surrounded herself with powerful women, who are now calling the shots in Brasília.

The epicenter of Brazilian power can be found on the fourth floor of the Palacio do Planalto in Brasília, the nation's capital. Liveried waiters elegantly carry trays of coffee through the hallways of the presidential palace, high-ranking officials wait in anterooms and air-conditioning units hum in the offices.

Planning Minister Miriam Belchior rushes past on her way to visit Chief of Staff Gleisi Hoffmann, with whom she will discuss a multi-billion-real investment program to combat poverty. On the way she is greeted by Ideli Salvatti, the woman who manages the government's relations with Congress. Two floors down, Press Secretary Helena Chagas is talking on the phone. In the front office, several women are reviewing the day's newspapers.

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Read more in Speiegel Online, published 19 Jan


Egypt: Revolt Loses Legitimacy as Brotherhood Ignores Women Abuse

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Thu, 2012-01-19 07:28

Summary: 

A group of men gathered around Amira El Bakry in Tahrir Square as she brandished a newspaper photo that shocked many Egyptians. It showed troops dragging a female protester along the street, her robe ripped open to reveal a blue bra and bare midriff.

“Is this OK by you?” the 25-year-old El Bakry, her voice shaking with anger, asked the men, as they squinted at the picture and one suggested the protester was trying to cause a scene. Later, El Bakry marched through Tahrir with thousands of women to condemn the brutality and demand that Egypt’s military rulers step down. Some at the Dec. 20 rally wore tight jeans tucked in boots, others were in flowing robes and full-face veils. “The women of Egypt are a red line,” they chanted.

The scene recalled the mass protests of a year ago, also joined by women of all ages and backgrounds. El Bakry supported those efforts to topple Hosni Mubarak, yet she’s worried about the new political order too. Mubarak-era army chiefs are running the country, and Islamist parties with traditional notions of women and their rights are poised to win elections that end this week. “That could be a lose-lose situation for us,” she said. “But we have a role to play, and we’ll have to keep fighting for it.”

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Read more in Bloomberg, posted 18. Jan


Kuwait: Strong indication number of women in parliament to fall

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2012-01-17 14:17

Summary: 

Kuwaiti women have proven they are able leaders in political, civil and social arenas although there are strong indications the number of women in parliament will decrease in the next National Assembly, say women political activists.

Dr Moudhi Al-Humoud and Dr Khadija Al-Mahmid said Sunday, at a seminar organized by the 2012 Elections Media Center, that the depressive political atmosphere and negative assessments by voters has led to the pessimistic view that women are unable to fulfill their duties in parliament. They urged voters to assess the political and civil competencies and qualifications of female former MPs and current candidates.

It is unfortunate, however, that the society is using a gender-based statistical assessment by assuming women are under-qualified because the number of women contesting in the upcoming election is significantly smaller than the number of men, they added. Only 24 candidates among 344 are women.

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Read more in Arab Times, published 15 Jan


Kenya: Politics locks women from wealth forums

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2012-01-17 14:10

Summary: 

Women are being left out of key decisions on distribution of wealth and resources because they are not active in political parties, a new survey has revealed.

According to the study by the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Development Studies (IDS) only 52 per cent of women are affiliated to political parties; the rest are staying out of active politics. The youth also performed poorly in terms of affiliation to political parties, handing dominance to men above the age of 55. Political parties are critical in accessing power but men have dominated for decades.

The Cabinet is grappling with how best to ensure better representation of women in key elective offices.

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Read more in Business Daily, published 17 Jamuary


Europe: Lack of gender balance in European Parliament

Submitted by iKNOW Politics on Tue, 2012-01-17 05:28

Summary: 

The members of the European Parliament will vote on 17 January on who should be their president for the next 30 months. Although the Parliament is fond of speaking about democracy, its internal procedures are not transparent, and women are still largely absent from its leading positions.

Currently women hold 35% of the seats in the EP. The European Parliament had had 13 president, and only two of those have been women.

Diana Wallis has argued as part of her campaign that the European Parliament needs to secure gender balance in its internal leadership positions as well as among the MEPs.

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To read the complete article please visit www.womenlobby.org.