Women underrepresented in Algerian legislative race

03/04/2007

Candidate lists for Algeria's May 17th parliamentary elections were due at midnight on April 1st. Many political parties included women in their lists but the country's conservative tendencies will likely preclude women from being elected.

By Lyes Aflou for Magharebia in Algiers – 03/04/07

[Getty Images] Algerian women still struggling to get a fair political representation

Despite their strong presence in the country's daily life, Algerian women remain relatively absent from political parties and the legislature. In preparation for the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 17th, a number of parties have proudly announced the inclusion of women in their lists. No parties, however, have placed quotas for women and the number of female candidates remains small.

The left-wing Workers’ Party claims to have 14 women at the top of its candidate lists. The largest party in the National Assembly, the National Liberation Front (FLN), has 72 female candidates out of a total of 525 nationwide. The MSP (Movement for the Society of Peace), a member of the ruling coalition, has announced that 20% of its candidates are women. "We’re seeing hesitation on the part of officials to put forward female candidates, based on the assumption that they stand less chance of being elected – but it’s the party’s job to tackle these taboos by enforcing the principle of equal opportunity", says Halima Benzaghou, a grassroots FLN activist.

"The representation of women should not be a matter for quotas determined in advance, but one of ability. Gender shouldn’t come into it," FLN official Mouloud Anouar told Magharebia.

Salima Merad, a community activist for the Organisation for the Emancipation of Women, deplored the "divergence between what politicians say and what happens in reality".

The trend to have fewer female candidates seems to be common to all countries in the Maghreb, according to a comparative study of female representation in the region’s political institutions. The study was conducted by the Information and Documentation Centre for Children’s and Women’s Rights (CIDDEF) in partnership with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

The study identifies the forces that prevent women from standing for election. Chief among the reasons for the lack of women within legislative bodies is the fact that few of them appear on the candidate lists of political parties. The total figures for the five legislative elections held in Algeria between 1977 and 2002 show a sizeable cleavage between the number of male and female candidates. The number of women candidates rose in 2002 to 694 (5.5%) from 39 in 1977 – a clear improvement, but still small when one considers there are typically 4,500 candidates.

The study showed that men had a near-monopoly on leadership positions in government. The direct involvement of women in government activity in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco overall was insignificant. None of Algeria’s first nine governments included any women, and the first two only entered in 1984 – one as a minister and the other as a vice-minister. In 2002 there were five women in the government – one minister and four under-secretaries. The study also showed that the women who did serve in the government tended to be confined to ministerial posts with no significant powers. CIDDEF experts found that female ministers are usually charged with the family, women’s status or immigration. Outside these areas, they are typically given subordinate roles as under-secretaries.

The study also revealed that women have no influence whatsoever over candidate lists and are not involved in the creation of party policies or agendas. Despite all the progress made over the last three decades, conservative social tendencies continue to hamper the advancement of women in politics. Although researchers acknowledged that a few parties are beginning to take steps to increase the number of women among their ranks, progress is still slow.