Whether they are opposition parties or parties of the presidential alliance, whether they are activists of new parties or deans, women have trouble appearing on the lists of candidates in local elections. The reasons are many, but the most recurrent are the mentalities resistant to the emancipation of women. For many women elected, the situation is only getting worse.
Women represent only 18% of the 165,000 candidates for the 1541 communal assemblies and 28% of the 16,000 candidates for the 48 wilaya assemblies. In the 2012 local elections, the participation rate of women in the municipal assembly race jumped from 0.7% (in 2007) to 16.56%, and from Wilaya 6.89% (in 2007) to 29%. 69%, thanks to the 30% quota system imposed by law, but which obviously has not been able to curb the retrograde mentality that prevents women from conquering political space. If in 2012, they were 4119 to have been elected, the 2017 poll is unlikely to improve this score, given the decline in the number of women candidates and the reduction in the places granted to them by their political party.
A party like the RND, for example, considered the second largest force after the FLN, has presented 8000 candidates, but only 6 are top of the list, while the Workers Party, present in 38 wilayas with its 12 000 candidates, has placed three women at the top of her lists, including two as chairpersons of the La Casbah and Sidi M'hamed APCs in Algiers, and the third as president of the Sétif wilaya Assembly. The Front des forces socialistes, known for its positions in favor of equality, presented only three lists headed by women. Two to head the Assemblies of wilaya of Algiers and Oum El Bouaghi and one to hold the reins of the commune of Tizi Ouzou.
The RCD, meanwhile, has not put any woman to the top of the list, but, he said, he "has respected the quota of 30% in the twenty wilayas where it is present, including in areas where it quota is not mandatory. This obvious absence of women at the head of the lists reveals the difficulties that the most reckless women face in gaining access to the leadership of local assemblies.Relegated to the background, they have trouble getting a good place on a list to be elected.
In the majority of parties, they are often ranked last, and their ranking is far from reflecting their skills and profiles. A member of Rafel (Algerian network of women elected local), created a few months ago, Sakina Hadighanem is an RND elected from the municipality of Mahelma, who aspires to another mandate "despite the suffering" she endures. "The problems that all elected women face are similar and transcend political hats.
From the submission of the application to the end of the mandate, through the exercise of the mandate, we are going through a sea of problems and obstacles. We find ourselves obliged to make enormous efforts, to work tirelessly just to show that we are able to perform our mission in the same way as men, who in many cases are under-qualified and have less of diplomas and experience that women, "reveals the elected.
"You have to have a solid back to be able to resist preconceived ideas"
She recounts how the candidates for the 19 seats in this rural commune were chosen from family, neighborhood or tribal members, without taking into account their level of education and skills. "It was not easy for me to enter, thanks to the quota system, in this area long reserved for men.
It was necessary that I fight against all to make me a place. I was in fact appointed as delegate to the mayor and then chair of the social and cultural commission. It allowed me to go to the citizens in the neighborhoods that my male colleagues always avoided. This closeness to the population allowed me to tackle the scourge of illiteracy that particularly affected women who were not even allowed to leave their homes. I managed a feat because I came home ... "
Sakina often goes back on this way of "removing women elected from decision-making, such as holding meetings in cafes between men. But as I considered myself elected and not a woman, I joined them and it amazed them ... ", she says. And to clarify: "We were three women to have been elected, but we did not have the same vision of politics. They did not get involved and often gave their colleagues power of attorney because they got used to this method of work.
This is not my case or that of many others, who are many today. "Sakina is formal:" Women do a huge job when involved. They make extraordinary efforts despite the difficult situations they face. They are all segregated, from the preparation of their application, to the end of their term. They all have a painful story to tell. To resist and cope with retrograde mentality and conservatism of the first degree, one must have solid loins.
Let's not hide our face. We are in the process of regressing. Many see politics as an unhealthy activity of people of bad morals. "This pessimism is explained by a reality that Sakina lives daily. "I work a lot with imams, for example, and some of them campaign against women who work, against gender diversity and slyly against women who do not wear headscarves, etc. They are listened to because of ignorance. That's why I say we need action in this area and many more, "says Hadighanem.
This bitter finding is not isolated. Nadia Aït Zai, director of the Ciddef (Information and Documentation Center on the Rights of Children and Women), behind the creation of Rafel, reports the same situation in many municipalities in the country and poses the problem of women's right to political office. "This right is unfortunately not guaranteed by the law on the quota of 30%. It is characterized by glaring deficiencies, "notes Ms. Aït Zai.
Like her, many local elected women and members of the Rafel are convinced that "to shake up preconceived ideas, clichés and prevailing misogyny, it is imperative to advocate for parity. To oblige the political class to present in all the communes and assemblies of wilaya the same number of women and men ". Testimonies of both suggest that Algeria's freedoms and equality is still far ahead of us and that women will have to continue to fight for their place in society.
Comments
Post a Comment