Ayan Abdullahi Yonis, a rights campaigner, says women must stand together and support female candidates in order to give women their rightful place in political processes.
Somailiand women’s record in elections is dismal.
In the last elections in September 2012, 184 women candidates stood as local council candidates and only six won seats.
“No-one lobbies for women candidates,” complained Ayan. “Clans support their male candidates. Even though some women vote for female candidates, most of the voters overlook women’s significant contribution to society.”
Only six out of 166 members of parliament in Somaliland are women. There are only two female ministers and two female deputy ministers in the cabinet of more than 40 members.
Baar Said, a female MP, said she believes women could outperform men in politics and leadership if given the chance.
“In terms of work execution, I believe we perform and deliver better than our male counterparts. Any prejudices about women not being able to deliver well are unfounded,” she said.
But the women face typical male attitudes as expressed by local resident Mustafa Osman.
“A woman’s role in society is to raise her family and look after the household. Somalis have no culture of assigning women tasks beyond the household,” he said.
Baar says money is another factor that keeps women out of politics.
“Men have wealth such as houses and farms, but here women’s names do not appear on title deeds, so when men announce their candidacy in politics, they can sell some of their houses and farms to finance their campaigns, unlike women who don’t have any wealth. So economics matter in politics,” she said.
