Doha:
Voters chose none of the 26 ladies who stood for election in Qatar’s very first legislative elections on Saturday, disappointing candidates who had wanted to lend a voice for ladies and other Qataris in the Gulf monarchy’s political procedure.
The vote was for 30 members of the 45-seat advisory Shura Council, with the emir continuing to appoint the remaining 15 members of the body which can approve a restricted scope of policies for the modest but wealthy nation that bans political parties.
“To have all men is not the vision of Qatar,” mentioned Aisha Hamam al-Jasim, 59, a nursing manager who ran in Doha’s Markhiya district. She urged Qatari ladies to get started “voicing what they believe in” and vote for sturdy ladies candidates in future.
“For the first time in Qatar, this is the opportunity to take part in the political,” she mentioned as people today trickled into the polls earlier on Saturday.
Jasim, like fellow female candidates, mentioned she had encountered some males who believed ladies really should not run.
Highlighting her administrative expertise, she focused on policy priorities like overall health, youth employment and retirement. “I just say: I’m strong, I’m capable, I see myself as fit as a man…If you want to see me as weak, that’s up to you, but I am not weak,” she mentioned in the polling station exactly where males and ladies had separate entrances.
While Qatar has introduced reforms to women’s rights in current years, such as permitting ladies to independently get a driving license, it has been criticised by rights groups for concerns like the guardianship program, exactly where a lady wants male permission to marry, travel and access reproductive healthcare. Human Rights Watch in March mentioned that when in 2019 ladies tweeted from an anonymous account about Qatar’s guardianship program, the account shut down inside 24 hours following cyber safety officials summoned one lady.
Naima Abdulwahab al-Mutaawa’a, a candidate and foreign ministry worker whose elderly mother came to vote for her, had wanted to press for a body advocating for ladies and children.
Several female candidates had been in search of to boost the integration into Qatari society of children of female citizens married to foreigners who, like in other Gulf states, can not pass their Qatari nationality to their children. While Jasim stopped brief of advocating for granting passports, fellow candidate Leena al-Dafa named for complete citizenship for children in such instances.
Dafa, a writer, does not see these who oppose ladies in the Shura Council as an obstacle since the ruling emir – and the law – help female participation. “The law gives me this right…I don’t care what aggressive people say about that,” she mentioned, adding that ladies had been ideal suited to go over their concerns.
Al-Maha al-Majid, a 34-year-old industrial engineer stood for election, alongside her policies, to transform mindsets.
“To convince the males (to vote for women), yes, we may have to put in work or extra effort…I’m willing to take this extra effort in order to be in and to convince this society that the women can do so,” she mentioned.
For some, attitudes are difficult to shake.
Male candidate Sabaan Al Jassim, 65, supports ladies standing in elections but mentioned their principal function remains in the family.
“They are here, they have their fingerprint and they have their vote and a voice…But most important is in the house, to take care of the kids with the families,” he mentioned at a polling station exactly where Jasim and Mutaawa’a sat across the space from him.
Qatar at the moment has only one female minister: Public Health Minister Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari.
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