On this occasion The Yemen Observer interviewed Rashida al-Hamdani, Chairperson of the Womens National Committee (WNC). Trained as a nurse, al-Hamdani studied psychology and education in India. She was an independent candidate during the 2006 local council elections, in which her goal was to make a statement and show to other women that if she could do it, they could do it. She explains: “I lost, but I think the awareness I created was a great result, especially for tribal women.”
YO: -When was the first time you heard about the VVC? What do you know about this authority?
Rashida al-Hamdani (RAH): -I did not know about this VVC until they announced their meeting in July, but prior to that, one of our staff members at the WNC went to Houdeidah for work and when she went to stay at a hotel, they refused her because she did not have a mahram or male companion. That was alarming to us and I reacted spontaneously: I think I wrote right away to the Ministry of Tourism about this issue. Then I heard about the official establishment of the VVC. The first thing that was alarming to us was that they were all men, no women was present. The second was how they gathered some 5,000 people. Where did they get the money from and how did they obtain the support to do so?
Then, it got worse because the first thing they announced was against women, against the quota system. They announced, among other things, that women meeting men in an office was something forbidden assuming that women go to work for sexual things and not to work. We do not want to respond to these accusations, we do not have to defend ourselves against this because it is absurd. The president’s program includes the quota and that is what we have to fight for.
As the WNC, I do not see the necessity to get in a political game of tit for tat. Of course, whenever we have meetings we talk about it, we are not afraid of it, but this organization, which is a non-governmental organization (NGO) is against the government and we do not want to get into conflicts with others, so we keep on working, which is the most important. We have a strategy of our own: to advocate for women’s rights. Continue with our work and be successful at it is our strategy.
YO: -How did the fatwa they issued against the quota system affect your work?
RAH: -Not at all. Not everybody can issue a fatwa. My question is: are they entitled to issue a fatwa? Because fatwas come from recognized organizations, and when that is the case, then and only then the state follows them. We have an organization of the ‘ulama in Yemen, which is a governmental body and which announces Ramadan, Eid, everything, and they are the only ones that can issue a fatwa. That is number one, the legal aspect of this fatwa. The second is related to the fact that, when the president announced his policies, we have to respect them because a policy is a direction by the president, an order by the head of the state.
The failure of one issue is the failure of the president, and he took seriously the quota. So I do not think the government will hinder its own work. The NGOs complement this work, and in the end is a work towards the success of the work of the government. I am sure that the establishment of the VVC was prepared before, I am sure they had to present it to the president, explain what they were there for, what they will do, what they will announce. But these people are an NGO for us, they are not official ‘ulama,’ and only they can issue a fatwa. What we should have is a response from the official ‘ulama.
YO: What is your opinion about the reaction of the society towards the VVC?
RAH: -People are fighting back; they are writing in newspapers, there is a web site where people report about this issue, the debate is becoming bigger and bigger. As for the government, the government should retaliate. The quota is a policy from the government and they should defend it. We were almost about to take women’s quota to the parliament, and now this sets our work back Its a deviation in our work, an unnecessary deviation. In any case women’s organizations like the Yemen Women Union (YWU) reacted immediately and they conducted many actions, even a small committee with lawyers was created to defend against these issues brought by the VVC. We work with them and with other NGOs, but we lead actions together with the government. When the government retaliates, we retaliate, we are a governmental institution and we have to act in unity with the government.
YO: Why is this happening now?
RAH: -They have been working on this for over two or three years, it was not done over night. There were reunions and debates before. There has been a big clash inside the Islah party over this issue because conservative groups have been pulling for these types of ideas. Being in a conservative country like Yemen, an organization like the VVC can have a big impact, and the liberal ‘ulama should explain this and retaliate, by saying something about the issue. We should target this response. Also it is conflicting and not clear because they say things against the president -their fatwa against the quota goes against the president’s program- at the same time that they support the president with ending the war in Sa’adah. That is a bit confusing to us.
YO: What is the WNC’s work in relationg to the quota system?
RAH: -We are pushing for 30 percent, the 15 is just the minimum we ask for. We worked with the YWU in protests to pressure over this issue. This forced the president to include the quota on his program. We have been working on this issue since the year 2000 or earlier. One of our concerns in the amendment of the electoral law was to include this quota system. Again we brought it back, and the president announced he would support us with this, which gave us more hopes to make this a reality. I think the VVC also provoked more space to talk about the quota. Now everyone talks about it and people ask and discuss about this system to include women in electoral bodies, which has been a positive impact. We take advantage of this debate to talk still more about it and make our goals advance. I am sure we will win with this.
YO: You ran as a candidate for the Local Council elections of 2006, after this experience, what do you define as the main obstacles for women in the political arena?
RAH: -The most critical thing is that women do not have money, and this is crucial because you need money to campaign. Money is always with men, they can sell their lands and get money, women cannot. When I was a candidate I had that money although I did not know I would spend that much, but then I did not want to withdraw so I continue. It has been two years now since that, and I do not regret it at all. The money I used for that, was the money I had saved for my children but ran as a candidate because I wanted to give women hope, an incentive, let them know :‘If I can do it, you can do it.’ Even if I did not succeed I did not care because I wanted to break the silence. Educated women have to work for this, work more at the party level. In my view I needed to start from the bottom so people would know my work, that is the best way to have a greater impact and then people will trust you more. For me I think that rooted work is crucial, because policies stay at another level unless you implement them.
It takes time, women need money, they have to be known, they have to provoke an impact and all that takes time. Especially in rural areas, this work is harder sometimes. If you are a candidate with party support then the story changes because they are behind you, they support you, but still you have to be elected by the people, the members of the party, but even this is easier than an independent candidate fighting alone. Women have more chances when they run with a party, definitely, and that is also a problem because parties are not always there. For the long run, the parties need to accept women as candidates. Picture’s caption: Rashida al-Hamdani, Chairperson of the Women National Committee (WNC) and candidate for the local council elections of 2006.
- Yemen Observer
No comments:
Post a Comment