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Topic Discussion III
Participation in
Democratic Decision-Making:
The Vital Voices of Women, Civil Society and
Pluralism
Room 3
(12 of 16 pages)
Today we have only two women in parliament, but in principle and as a role, we
have to say that we established the practice of the participation of women in Yemeni parliament and we believe
that this stage is a decisive one as far as the participation of women is concerned and it came as a result of
developments through stages of our contemporary history and each stage made a positive contribution to bring us
to the point where we stand today. This stage and this forum in particular will no doubt contribute to further
entrenchment of this process.
Thank you.
Chair: We have 15 minutes to go, so I will now give the floor to the gentleman from Nepal.
Speaker: I am the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Nepal. Nepal is a newly emerging democracy.
After the establishment of the multi-party system in 1990, we came across the question of how to involve different
sectors of society in the political process. Among them, three sections were there, one women, second ethnic groups,
third the untouchable community, so when we were forming, when we were claiming our constitution in 1990, there
was a big debate on whether we could accommodate them in various wings of the government or not. When there was
a composition of the parliament, then we can have some reservations for the women of the different groups in the
parliament or not,. So after a long debate we were able to come to a conclusion that every political party should
nominate at least 5% of the total seats for standing as candidates in the lower house of parliament. As for the
upper house, 5% were reserved for women and that has compelled the political parties to have at least 5% of candidates
and later on there was a big voice raised from the women, so when we were priming the law we were really trying
to have that law for the local bodies. Then we were able to have 20% of the women to be elected at the local levels,
in the villages in the districts and in the municipalities. So I think that there are still many problems, many
women's groups are there. Women's pressure groups have been formed there and they are raising their own voices.
They are demanding more and more participation in the political process, but there are still problems being faced
there. So I think that to solve these problems, this would be basically found in some of the sectors. No.1: Nepal
is still a semi-feudal society. It is male dominated and male chauvinism is there, so without changing the feudal
mentality, it is not possible to have new laws or new provisions. No. 2: In Nepal, the question of property rights
is being raised and the law regarding women's property rights is in the parliament, but it is still not passed.
No. 3. There is still strong legal problems to protect the rights of women and other sectors. No. 4 Strong pressure
groups would be formed and would be backed by all political parties. No. 5. Civil education, literacy campaign
and other things would be done, and No. 6 Involvement more and more with pressure groups in the issues relating
to them should be there.
Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you, dear colleagues. I am a Member of Parliament from Morocco. My name is Saidi. I represent
grouping in the Moroccan Parliament and as a citizen I realize that we have duties towards women and the time has
come to reflect on the slogan that says 'Behind every great man stands a woman' and to say the opposite, 'Behind
every great woman stands a man' but there are pre-conceived and a priori prejudices and ideas that we should combat.
We have a deeply entrenched past feeding these prejudices and I believe that the colleagues from my region would
agree with me. It is the male who would defend women in the context of the problems that used to take place in
the past, so we were in need of the muscles of the men, but after the industrial revolution the need arose for
the strength of the man once again.
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