In Somalia, female rights organisations, influential businesswomen and women lawmakers urge the male-dominated parliament of the country to introduce a bill that reserves for 30% of the women’s seats in the general election next year.
According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), women occupy 24 per cent, up from 14 per cent in the previous vote, of 329 seats in Somalia’s lower and upper houses of parliament. A draught law permitted to assign 30% of parliamentary seats to women was passed in June by Somalia’s lower house, but this bill was not tabled in advance for ratification by the upper houses.
President Mohamed Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed signed in September an agreement with regional leaders, which included the 30 per cent quota.
Deqa Abdiqasim Salad, CEO of Hear Women, a charitable organisation that works to improve women’s political voice in Somalia, said “We want this pledge to ensure that women have 30 percent seats in the legislation.
On a declaration calling for a 30 percent limit, Salad is one of more than 135 signatories.
Other signatories included Chairman Halima Ismail Ibrahim, influential doctor Amina Aden Mohamed and Luul Maxamed Feerayare, a women’s rights activist. Also co-signatories are Somalia’s 79 female parliamentarians.
Supporters of gender quotas refer to African countries such as Rwanda as an example of democratic governance, which leads the world with 55% of the women in parliamentary seats.
The 2003 Constitution of Rwanda established that women represent 30% of all government policymaking bodies. This was accomplished.
In order to ensure women’s rights and their inclusion in democratic processes, the female quota structures were adopted by more than 100 countries, the declaration states.
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It is expected that in February 2021 elections will be held.
In eastern Africa, child marriage and violence against women are high, including rape and female genital mutilation (FGM). 45% of women married before 18 years are said by the United Nations, and 98% have suffered FGM.
Women’s rights advocates hope a stronger voice at the top would filter women down and allow them to fight violence, sexism and injustice at grassroots level.
Inputs from Reuter