Medya News
Daily News
Breaking News
Subscribe
  • Home
  • All News
  • Opinion
  • Kurdistan
  • Women
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
  • More
    • Audio Articles
    • Economy
    • Culture & Art
    • Ecology
    • Newsletter
    • Daily News
Youtube
PODCAST
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • All News
  • Opinion
  • Kurdistan
  • Women
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
  • More
    • Audio Articles
    • Economy
    • Culture & Art
    • Ecology
    • Newsletter
    • Daily News
Youtube
PODCAST
No Result
View All Result
Medya News

The Lack of Women’s Participation in Middle Eastern Politics

11:08 am 19/11/2020
A A
The Lack of Women’s Participation in Middle Eastern Politics
Share post

by Savan Abdalrahman – Iraqi Kurdistan

Political participation is a process in which individuals play a role in changing and fuelling the social system by giving life to it. Today, worldwide, we see a wide range of women participating in politics, but this does not change the fact that women’s participation faces oppression and gender discrimination in the political arena.

In Middle Eastern states’ politics, the ratio of women participating varies widely due to the culture, norms and mentalities that have influenced the region as a whole. The main reasons which explain the lack of participation and weakness of women in this political arena relate to women not being socially, politically and mentally educated for the arena. This makes women lack self-confidence in standing in positions of decision making and it forces them to look up to men to make decisions for them. And this presents such a woman in the political field with the same mentality as the patriarchal man who she is directed through. Another reason is that women face many difficulties whilst participating in politics. These difficulties could range from harassment to personal threats on their lives.

Shady Nawzad, a previous member of parliament in the New Generation party in Iraqi Kurdistan, who was participating as part of the opposition in parliament, faced personal threats by the party’s leader for the criticisms she raised in her own party. Shady’s plight highlights the difficulties that women have in the Middle East, especially when becoming a figure in the political arena. The reason behind this goes back to a lack of cultural awareness about women’s freedoms.

Concerning the issue of weakness regarding women’s participation in politics, Rawzh Mohammed Salih, an operations manager, says:

“I believe there are many reasons that affect women’s participation in politics. One is that women know that entering politics will lead to difficulties relating to gender discrimination. The second is education: in the family and school, women have been raised to not develop decision-making skills, and politics is all about the ability to become key decision-makers. In politics, you need to have a voice”.

The second sex

Salih added: “A girl is raised in society as the second sex. Even the younger brother can make decisions for her. These are deep rooted problems that make us not see leadership and supervisory potential in women in the different fields of life, especially in politics”. Nma Sara, a political science and international relations student at the American University in Iraq – who chose her mother’s name as a second name – says: “One of the reasons could be that Iraqi political parties don’t have a clear dynamic to produce strong candidates in both men and women. When elections come up, they either chose popular people or members of their family. They don’t choose a young candidate who is educated”. She adds: “Even the youth who are members in the youth union of the parties, don’t do real politics: they mostly are used as volunteers to coordinate events”.

In Komal’s internal regulations, they do not state that any candidates can submit themselves to be considered for president or leadership positions. Instead, they state ‘prince’ candidate. ‘Prince’ refers to ‘male’. This contradicts the fact that women and men should be equal within the party because, in this case, women cannot submit themselves for leading positions.

‘We don’t have strong examples of courageous women in politics’

On the surface of politics, today we see an increasing rate of women participating in politics due to the ‘quota system’ which forces parties to include women. This has led to the participation of women who do not own their own decisions and beliefs. Nma says: “We don’t have strong examples of courageous women in politics. We might have a few women in past centuries, but today, we don’t have good role models. The existing role models are problematic because they either come from privileged families or originate from a political party and adopt their ideology uncritically to it, or they are rich women who can afford their own campaigns. We don’t see courageous women who entered politics step-by-step from a young age and who educated themselves. We basically see them coming from nowhere”.

For Nma: “The reason political parties use women candidates is that they think that the feminist revolution has become a trend and they feel obliged to follow up with that trend. They exploit them for their gender, saying: ‘You are a woman and we need women candidates’. They are not selected for their ability and knowledge”. Concerning her own participation, Nma says: “I personally wouldn’t participate in any political party because I personally don’t believe in the parliamentary system in Iraq and Kurdistan. I think the system is broken. What they do is not effective, because there is a higher decision maker above them. I rather see it as a waste of resources”.

Women have gone through a number of hardships in order to participate not only in politics but in social fields. This has cost most of them their personal lives and the loss of people who are close to them. Rawezh says: “A person comes to a point where they say that fighting the patriarchal system is pointless. You get to a point and ask yourself: ‘Why am I doing this? You start to question everything’”.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, we still find very few women who still persist in the struggle and fight to secure meaningful participation of women in society. But Rawezh says: “We believe in ourselves and we do have the skills, but the fight we have is a very difficult one. It needs power and willpower”.

 


Share post

Related Posts

Daily News: 29 May 2023

Daily News: 29 May 2023

May 29, 2023
Former ANC fighter: Turkey’s isolation practice worse than under harshest regimes

Former ANC fighter: Turkey’s isolation practice worse than under harshest regimes

May 29, 2023
Syria: Jihadist group congratulates Erdoğan as celebration gunfire injures civilians

Syria: Jihadist group congratulates Erdoğan as celebration gunfire injures civilians

May 29, 2023
Violent house raids, post-election detentions in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast

Violent house raids, post-election detentions in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast

May 29, 2023
Widespread election violations reported in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority provinces

Widespread election violations reported in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority provinces

May 29, 2023
Turkish threats to cut water flow to Iraq behind attack on Kurdish refugee camp

Turkish threats to cut water flow to Iraq behind attack on Kurdish refugee camp

May 29, 2023

Videos

Daily News: 29 May 2023
Daily News

Daily News: 29 May 2023

May 29, 2023

All News

Daily News: 29 May 2023

Former ANC fighter: Turkey’s isolation practice worse than under harshest regimes

Syria: Jihadist group congratulates Erdoğan as celebration gunfire injures civilians

Violent house raids, post-election detentions in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast

Widespread election violations reported in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority provinces

Turkish threats to cut water flow to Iraq behind attack on Kurdish refugee camp

Medya News

Impressum

About us

Privacy Policy

Subscribe
Contact

 

No Result
View All Result
  • All News
  • Opinion
  • Kurdistan
  • Women
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
  • Ecology
  • Economy
  • Culture & Art
  • Daily News
  • Breaking News
  • Newsletter
  • Authors
  • Podcast

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT

Add New Playlist

Loading
Contact