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Topic Discussion III
Participation in
Democratic Decision-Making:
The Vital Voices of Women, Civil Society and
Pluralism
Room 3
(7 of 16 pages)
Speaker: I want to thank you Madame Chairperson. My name is (Inaudible)
a member of the Opposition in Mali. I would like to raise two questions and have an opinion thereof. The first
question is on the policy of quotas, vis-a-vis women. More and more, I mean as far as elections are concerned,
we reserve a certain number of places which we block, for women. Do we think here that this is a good or a bad
thing? To be clear, I don't think that the same way of promoting a woman would be to create a kind of competition
among these women, but that the competition should be open. The second question is on civic society. Should civic
societies in all hypotheses keep their neutrality or on the basis of political programs, conciliate votes? Secondly,
what is the margin between civic society and political activity of responsible political authorities? Could we
become responsible holder authorities in civic society? I thank you.
Speaker: I am of the Politburo of the Yemeni Socialist Party. It's an opposition party in Yemen. I would
like to indicate that my political party has great experience in the organizations of civil society and particularly
with women and among women at a time when the party was in power in the south. We had a relatively advanced experience
relative to all the countries of the region and this is not only by our testimony but by the testimony of all international
organizations, particularly as it relates to the rights of women, the equality of women, education and participation
in political life. At some point, we were the only political party that had women representing it in parliament.
From our experience, we believe that the question of women should be taken in an integrated manner, economically,
politically and culturally. There has to be attention devoted to education of new generations, social needs, social
security. The need to alleviate the conditions of women in need and to bring women to participate in political
life. These are all inter-linked. They cannot be fragmented, for without a struggle for the economic liberation
of women, there is no use in providing for her participation in political life. Without devoting attention to the
education of children and alleviating the burden on children, we cannot guarantee political participation for women
in political life. Thus I believe that the question of women should be taken as an inter-linked whole in all aspects.
I also want to point out that it is most important to confront those traditional and religious ideologies that
are hostile to the liberation of women and these ideologies in our societies constitute major constraints in the
face of the participation of women in political life. The democratic forces should confront these ideologies that
are hostile to the participation of women.
On the second point, as related to civil society, there is a negative characteristic which is that we try to insist
that we have organizations of civil society. Sometimes they are even fabricated, either by ruling parties, or others.
Sometimes we find that there is a kind of cliché for the establishment, even fabrication, of organizations
of civil society. I believe it's important to stress that the birth of institutions and organizations of civil
society should be a true and natural one, reflecting the need for them. It should not be a mere act of ruling parties
and other parties to create a large network [TAPE FLIP]…by their own mechanisms, because otherwise these institutions
will not be a true representation of whom they claim to represent. It should be done otherwise. They should come
as an expression of true needs. We should combat the fabrication of the institutions of civil society because this
will abort the sound birth of these organizations. Thank you.
Ms. Marta Lopez: I am a member of a society active in the civic field. The law allows women participation
in two forms. We participate also on the national and the local levels and what was brought up in this meeting
indicates the participation of women I believe that in emerging democracies, and this is a reality in many countries
that we represent here today in this forum, it is most important to start out from the laws that determine the
legal frameworks for activity in this domain. One of the main rules is that the laws should reflect the pluralism
existing in participation and as was said this morning, there was much reference to pluralism, but it is not sufficient
to speak of ideological pluralism, but we should be speaking of pluralism in organizational participation. This
is what I find among our people. We have many experiences. For example, in Guatemala we have the Mai (ph) people
and I am from these people. We represent over 60% of the people and we have our own political culture. It is a
culture that is not in harmony with the political culture of the state and I believe that in this forum we are
seeking mechanisms that would assist in opening the way for the participation of women in political life. Thus
we should also focus on the political culture of our peoples. For example, to examine the question of how to achieve
greater participation of women, I would say it is not sufficient merely to amend the laws. The political culture
of the Mai people and other peoples, should have the right to elect their leaders and their representatives. This
is a firm tradition among these people and I am referring also to indigenous populations. But in political parties
we find that there are certain rules that are applied, and these rules keep us away from the centers of decision-making
and from developing leaders who are authentic and truly representative. Thus, it is best if we seek what are those
programs that would truly assist women to take part in the political process. In the forefront we should take into
consideration the prevailing political culture of the indigenous population that I spoke of. The problems are not
related merely to women. They are problems shared by women and all the population. They are national problems.
Women face dual problems, problems of their own as women and problems on the national level. Thus, the participation
of women, particularly from the ranks of indigenous peoples, should be at two levels: the representation as women
and as a citizen. Thus it is a national question, and we should secure for this problem a solution and a remedy.
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