We certainly can learn from our neighbors with similar conservative values. In Jordan, for example, women became political stakeholders after a quota system was introduced that allocated six out of the 110 seats to women candidates. In that election, 54 women ran for office, and six were elected to the 14th Parliament. Eight women also served in the Senate. These 14 women were the first such legislators in Jordan’s history.
Their involvement in the legislative process is a great accomplishment. Introducing the quota system in Saudi Arabia would provide the means of addressing our gender imbalance and the discrimination against women. Lacking the political will to support such a move will hinder our progress and development.
Women constitute 50 percent of the population, and they represent 54 percent of our university graduates. They have shown their capabilities in many sectors of our society. We must not allow the barriers of culture and tradition to stand in the way of change and modernization in our government that would bring Saudi Arabia into the 21st century and allow us to compete with the international community.
“Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy, in which women do not play a central role,” said former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “When women are fully involved, the benefits are immediate — families are healthier and better fed, and their income, savings and investments go up, and what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries.”
The global drive to integrate women into the decision-making process began during the 1980s and early 1990s. The issue was raised in international conferences, the most significant of which was the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 that called for at least 30 percent women’s representation in national governments. This drive gained further momentum when world leaders pledged to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. Consequently, many countries have adopted the goal of gender equality and seven others, better known as the Millennium Development goals. Since that time, women’s participation in government has been on the rise — in the rest of the world.
If our government is serious about implementing reforms it should be responsible for ensuring the necessary conditions that enable women to assume leadership positions and provide them with the basic resources, skills, and experience to become effective political advocates and leaders.
All governmental departments at all levels, the educational system, nongovernmental organizations, religious institutions as well as businesses should be called upon to initiate a quota system in order to advance the participation of women in public office and guarantee them a say in matters that affect their lives, their families and their communities. Officials must realize it is their responsibility to promote the participation of women systematically in public life.
Our government should have the political will to allow women the opportunity to address the socioeconomic and political challenges facing their communities. Women should be playing more effective roles in serving their communities — enacting environmental laws, addressing children’s issues, upgrading education, fighting poverty and disease and helping society overcome the social ills that could plague the country’s future.
However, women need to be more aware that the main responsibility falls on women themselves. Women must work to bring about much-needed change. Educated Saudi women must resolve to play effective roles in government and civil society and demonstrate the pluck to stand up to those who would rather they sit down.
It is time we adopted the global quota system to allow our women to make the valuable contributions we all need them to make. It is time we caught up with the rest of the world and recognized women as a leading force that can help shape the future of our country. It is time for quality education and training for women and to include them in the decision-making process. Perhaps this eventually could eliminate the discriminatory rules that are imposed on them. To put it another way, would you rather have our government lead us to a future of prosperity or have a group of shortsighted men lead us to a future of despair? The choices are clear enough. So are the remedies.
* Published in Saudi Arabia's ARAB NEWS on May 10, 2008. Samar Fatany is a Saudi radio journalist. |
