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SOMALIA - 30 WOMEN ELECTED TO NEW
PARLIAMENT - CLAN PATRIARCHY & MALE RELIGIOUS POLITICS CHALLENGE
WOMEN'S POWER
By Cawo Abdi* - August 24 2012
Having
30 plus women in the Somali parliament is actually an enormous achievement
which "shows that there are many women competent and willing to fill
public office" [EPA] |
Somalia has recently selected its parliament on Somali soil for the first time since the civil war of the late 1980s. This is a significant achievement since regional power brokers such as Ethiopia and Kenya, with the financial and logistical backing of the European Union, the United States and the United Nations, concocted Somali governments in neighbouring countries. Such success is unfortunately marred by controversies, with continuous allegations of corruption in the selection of the members of parliament, as well as persistent charges that millions of international donor funds intended for Somali security and basic infrastructure ended up in the pockets of a few men in top leadership positions. While international news coverage of the above shady political process is repeated ad nauseam, the status of the 30 per cent quota for women in current parliament-approved constitution rarely gets any ink. My reading is that international media outlets as well as Somali journalists take it for granted that failure of fulfilling this quota is best explained by the Islamic faith of the Somali people. This is often cited as being in conflict with decrees imposed from outside by international actors who allegedly paid for the hefty cost of $60m for the current constitution, and who also provide the salaries of former MPs and senior government leaders. Sectarian and opportunistic men Given the above power dynamic, Somalis acknowledge that though you should never bite the hand that feeds you, there can still be areas of serious contention between what international donors demand and what is possible in the Somali context. Thus the international community’s imposition of a 30 per cent quota for women in parliament is accepted to be included in the final draft of the constitution, even if all the signatories did not support such allocation. Sifting through the names of the 202 MPs released by the Technical Selection Committee in the last few days, 30 of the names are women, or approximately 15 per cent of the constitutionally mandated 30 per cent. This 15 per cent of women’s positions were achieved after weeks of haggling where male clan leaders were cajoled to include women in their nominations. Having
30 plus women in this parliament is actually an enormous achievement. It shows
that there are many women competent and willing to fill public office. In
fact, given the tremendously constructive role Somali women continue to play
in Somali social and economic life since the wars of the late 1980s, Somali
women have proven, beyond any shadow of doubt, that they are the backbone of
the survival of Somali society. There is no reason to doubt that they can
also become integral pillars of the political survival of future governments.
My
dozen years of sociological research with Somali women convinces me that
Somali women know their invaluable contributions to Somali life. They also
know that this contribution can be extended to the political process and in
the search for durable stability and peace. So
what is stopping Somali women from playing this vital role? Sectarian and
opportunistic men who utilise clan and religious politics represent a threat
for women and their prospects of political inclusion. Extending the
nomadically inherited active and public role that Somali women occupy in the
social and economic well-being of the household into the political sphere
threatens the already stiff competition for limited leadership
positions. The
Chairman of the Supreme Religious Council in Somalia often leads the voices
of those striving to impose a particular definition of what Islam is in
Somalia and how any new government should deal with gender issues in “Sharia”
complaint way. With the approval of the current constitution at the beginning
of August for example, this council disputed some constitutional provisions
that mostly relate to women, arguing that these provisions are contrary to
Islam. Denying
positions of leadership While
Somali elite politicians as well as traditional and religious leaders push
for the exclusion of women in positions of power, they completely remain
silent on the fact that the majority of Somali women spend their full days
and at times part of the night eking their families’ livelihoods in the
streets of all urban and rural areas. These leaders refuse to admit that for
the majority of the men selected as MPs, it is probably their wives,
daughters and sisters who keep the home fire burning, feeding and maintaining
the children, the elderly and even these MPs with their sweat, stubbornness
and skillfulness. Selectively
denying women positions of leadership, in the name of culture and religion,
when accepting that these women are indispensable in all spheres of Somali
society, is hypocritical. Somali sectarian politicians are abusing their male
power in a very patriarchal society, but camouflaging this abuse with
cultural and religious rhetoric. Somali
women are part and parcel of everyday public life. The survival of the Somali
nation rides on the backs of women. Men remain silent on this contribution as
it underscores their inability to fulfill all family needs. Somali women
remain silent about their contributions for fear of the type of abuse
routinely inflicted on women in a politically unstable region, and for fear
of challenging the untenable role of men as providers of their families.
The
current sectarian rhetoric imposed on Somalis is filled with contradictions,
and is a deformation of what Somali culture and Somali Islam used to be. The
culture that many of us grew up with, that thrived in this Horn African
region for centuries, is unfortunately in retreat. A sectarian dogma
confronted with Somali socio-economic reality is producing schizophrenic
political and religious establishment detrimentally impacting Somali women
and their potential contributions to the reconstruction of a viable nation
state. |