Quota system for women is 'unconstitutional'

A Supreme Council for Women (SCW) official yesterday ruled out an electoral quota system for women, saying that it would be unconstitutional.

"Bahrain's constitution is premised on equality between men and women and therefore opposes the quota system," SCW secretary-general Lulwa Al Awadi yesterday said in a press statement.

"We understand that women in Bahrain are eager to be elected to the municipal council or to the parliament, but we should not resort to the quota system until the local elections experiment matures," she said.

Lulwa, a lawyer, said the constitution could not be amended three years after its promulgation to include the quota system for women.

"Women have to learn how to be both patient and perseverant and learn from the experiment as we all move forward," she said.

None of the female candidates won a seat in the municipal and parliamentary elections where women were allowed to run for the first time.

In October 2002, eight women competed against 164 men for the 40 parliamentary seats, and only two reached the second round of voting.

Six women, including a Christian, were appointed in November 2002 to the Shura (Upper) Council.

The non-election of women, attributed to conservative tendencies prevailing within the Bahraini society, has prompted calls for the establishment of a quota system to help change mindsets.

The calls have been fiercely resisted by religious institutions and sidelined by the Supreme Council for Women which said that the quota was "discriminatory and unconstitutional".

"Women should understand that they have a voice and that their opinion is important. During the elections in 2002, a number of women succeeded in getting to the second round. We hope they will fare better next time.

"Even if they don't, it is not the end. But women should acknowledge their rights," Shaikha Sabeeka Bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Chairwoman of the SCW, said in March.

The council launched a national strategy to empower women politically and has held a series of workshops for potential candidates.

However, it said that it would not endorse any candidate and that women had to win based on their personal merit.

Women's rights activist Fawzia Rabia said the quota system would become a pressing demand if women failed again to win seats in the municipal and parliamentary elections in 2006.

"Women should be given the opportunity to become members of the municipal councils and Council of Representatives," she said.

"There is an urgent need to extend support to women and put an end to this all-men situation."

Al Wefaq's chairman Shaikh Ali Salman last month told Gulf News that the society would support female candidates, but added that they had to be competent and popular in their constituencies.