POLITICS-SOMALIA: New Government Falls Short on Gender Equity

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Dec 16 2004 (IPS) - For women in Southern Africa, it’s 30 percent. Further north in Somalia, the target is a more modest 12 percent. Even so, this goal is not being met.

Somalia’s new constitution, adopted in January this year, stipulates that 12 percent of decision-making posts in government should be filled by women. This means that 33 of the 275 seats in the East African country’s parliament are designated for women.

Good intentions have not translated into practice, however. Only 22 seats have been allocated to women since the legislature was inaugurated in August. The remaining 11 posts have gone to men – much to the ire of certain gender rights activists.

The matter has now been taken up by the Women’s Advocacy Group (WAG), which was formed in August to fight for Somali women’s rights. WAG has pushed those women who have made it to parliament to propose a motion that will compel the legislature to honour its constitutional obligations concerning women’s representation.

According to WAG Secretary-General Amina Warsama, the motion will be introduced next week.

“We are mobilizing even the male parliamentarians, and so far the response is positive,” she told IPS Thursday, during the first ever meeting between Kenyan women parliamentarians and their Somali counterparts.

“Women should get their quota in parliament where key decisions are made, as this will without doubt result in gender sensitive policies that will raise women’s standards of living in the face of a new government,” Warsama added. The Dec. 15 meeting, held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, was aimed at helping female legislators to share opinions, and learn from each other’s experiences.

The creation of a parliament earlier this year marked the end of a 14-year period in which Somalia was without central government. The country slid into turmoil in 1991 after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was deposed. Following his departure, various faction leaders staked their claim to sections of Somali territory.

Disputes between factions, fuelled by a steady flow of weapons to the country, created an environment where human rights abuse was widespread. Women frequently found themselves the target of rape and violence.

“Throughout the Somali conflict, factions have used rape as a weapon of war to punish and intimidate rival ethnic factions. The collapse of the government and the ensuing crisis has allowed armed combatants to rape women with impunity,” noted a 2003 report on Somalia produced by the Dutch branch of Oxfam, an international aid organisation.

According to ‘ Human Rights Status Report: The Somali Situation’, cases of rape in Somalia have largely been dealt with through customary and Islamic religious laws. These view sexual and physical abuse as clan matters that are best settled through negotiations between men. If someone is found guilty of rape, his clan is allowed to make a payment as reparations for the crime.

WAG would like to see those responsible for abuse subjected to formal trials.

“We want proper judicial systems in place to prosecute those implicated in rape crimes, among others. This issue was never tackled fairly because of the insufficient laws in use currently,” says Warsama.

However, women will only be able to make use of formal legal procedures if they are educated about their rights concerning sexual violence, and the need to report abuses. Enter the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which has joined forces with grass roots women’s groups to promote rights awareness.

“We are on the ground working with women’s umbrella organisations in different regions in Somalia, because we realize empowering the women through education will go a long way in helping them know how to address violence, discrimination – and (to) access legal services,” UNIFEM Regional Director Nyaradzai Gumbozvada told IPS.

Statistics from WAG indicate that about 80 percent of Somali women are illiterate at present, including some members of parliament: only six out of the 22 women legislators can read and write.

“We need these legislators to be empowered so that they can hold sober discussions that will influence parliament to pass laws that will be friendly to women,” Warsama observed.

These negotiations may include lobbying government to endorse the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, a United Nations convention that compels signatories to promote equality between men and women.

But, given the mammoth task of rebuilding Somalia’s shattered social services and economy, women parliamentarians will probably have their hands full trying to put gender rights at the top of government’s agenda.

While talks to bring peace to Somalia have been underway since 2000, it was only in October this year that a new president was finally elected for the country.

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed formed his cabinet earlier this month, but has yet to set up office in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. To date, security concerns have kept the new government in Nairobi.