21 - 27 June 2001
Issue No.539
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 June 2001 Issue No.539 |
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Parties won't back women
None of the 35 women who ran in the Shura Council elections managed to win a seat in the house. As Reem Leila reports, they blame their failure on the lack of political party support
Women continue to be under-represented in the People's Assembly, and in the recently-concluded Shura Council elections, none of the 35 female candidates made it to the house.
Some of the failed nominees complained about the lack of support from their party. But several party officials argued that women need better training in the mechanisms of domestic politics and decision-making if they are to succeed in that field. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which swept the polls, did not nominate a single woman on its official list of candidates.
According to Farkhonda Hassan, secretary-general of the National Council for Women (NCW), contesting the Shura elections is extremely difficult for both men and women because the constituencies are so large. And running without the support of a political party makes a campaign that much more difficult.
In spite of female candidates' negative results, Hassan made a positive observation about the contest. "I consider the latest elections a success for women because it was the first time that they ran as independents," she said. The only time women had taken part previously was in 1981 when the slate system was used. During that election two women ran on the NDP ticket.
Noaman Goma'a, the Wafd Party chairman, said his party did not contest the Shura elections because of the size of the constituencies. As for women, he suggested that the majority have little interest in playing a role in domestic politics.
But Nadia Abd Rabbou, a Wafd Party member and an unsuccessful candidate, insisted that the Wafd had nominated her for the elections "and totally ignored me afterwards. The party did not support me, either financially or morally."
In response to Abd Rabbou's comments, Goma'a said: "How can the party support someone who is politically unqualified and does not know how to present an electoral programme?" He said the party had promised financial support to any member who reached the run-off stage, but that none of its candidates made it that far.
All NDP members who ran independently were expelled from the party. There were reports that now that the elections were over, those candidates would regain party membership. But one of them, Sawsan El- Kilani who ran in Ismailia, said that this has not happened.
Abdel-Fattah El-Baz, secretary of the Ismailia chapter of the NDP, suggested that the NCW should have provided female candidates with political training, instead of merely organising public rallies for them. But he quickly added: "No woman should have thought of contesting the Shura elections because they are truly difficult and require great effort and a lot of money."
Towards increasing women's participation in future elections, Hassan said that the NCW was planning a series of meetings with several political parties. "The creation of a coordinating committee has been suggested to facilitate direct contacts between parties and the NCW," she added.
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