Welcome, Ladies!

Kamna Arora

At a time when women across the world are not only marking their presence in almost all fields, but also proving their mettle, there are some countries where the ‘fairer sex’ is still struggling to participate in politics. Unlike other regions, the Middle East has been a bit slow in accepting female participation in politics. Earlier, some social scientists used to refer to paradigms such as public/private split, where men were entitled to be a part of public sphere and women came under private sphere. However, circumstances have changed in the Middle East now, though unremarkably. Of late, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced the names of three women who will join his new Cabinet. Marzieh Vahid Dastgerdi will be the country’s new minister of health. Fatemeh Ajorlu will swear in as minister of welfare and social security and Susan Keshavarz as minister of education. Remarkably, these are the first female ministers in Iran since the 1970s. Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia was in headlines following the appointment of the first female minister. Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez’s appointment as Deputy Education Minister raised lot many eyebrows in a country where women are not even allowed to vote by law. Whether the appointment of Nora was truly a part of sweeping reforms in Saudi Arabia or a part of the US’ sham diplomacy to defend its stay in the Middle East, inclusion of a female minister in the Saudi cabinet is truly a welcome step. As per the data published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Rwanda has the world`s only female-majority Parliament. The average calculated region-wise shows that Nordic countries have the highest female participation in both the Houses of Parliament, whereas the lowest participation was recorded in Arab states. Has women’s role in the Middle Eastern politics been compromised in the past as well? Former editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Judith Tucker, says that the Egyptian state identified women as ‘political players’ in the 19th century. According to editor of Encyclopaedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, Julie Peteet, in pre-war Palestine women were considered as agents as well as targets of political action by British authorities as well as the Zionist movement. However, it should be noted that women always have had to take orders from the male-dominated leadership. But the scenario has changed somewhat now. Education and economic change have helped women in the Middle East increase their significance. No doubt the patriarchal ideology is still in place, but women are stepping out of the ‘private’ arena into the ‘public’ one. They are handling businesses, doing jobs. Incomplete statistics from Tunisia, Morocco and the Gulf, published in Europa World Year Book (1999), suggest that almost a third of women in these countries work full-time outside the home, and most of the rest work part-time either in or out of their homes. It infers that women are no longer ready to accept the status quo as propagated by men. The ulema, or Islamic religious leaders, or conservatives may not be happy with females participating in political meetings, but women are all set to break the growing resistance, thanks to education. It is true that the dream to see Middle Eastern women as presidents or senators is quite distant, but the spark is already there. The efforts by governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia to appoint women in their respective cabinets may encourage other countries in the Middle East to follow the same example. Women should no longer be treated as the second-class citizens of any country, or restricted to ‘private sphere’. They are ready to take decisions, not just for their families but also for their countries. Welcome, ladies!