Mona Abdulrahman Al-Anbari will head back to Qatar next month, energized to work for a particular candidate for the national legislature -- partly because of what she saw in Maine.
Al-Anbari, a journalist who is thinking of trying for a local office herself, said seeing women run for some of Maine's highest political offices, including the U.S. Senate and House, has convinced her that women in Qatar need to take on a bigger role in that country's political process.
"When I get home, I will certainly be pushing for (more) women to participate in elections," she said through an interpreter. She plans to back one woman candidate who wants a quota to make sure that women make up a sizable portion of the Qatar legislature.
Al-Anbari, visiting Maine as part of the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative, said she was particularly impressed to see Maine women forcefully advocate positions, both as political workers and as candidates themselves.
The group that visited Maine consisted of 10 women from the Middle East -- politicians, party workers, activists, educators and journalists -- along with translators and State Department officials. While here since Sunday, they received briefings on Maine government and politics; met with officials from Emerge Maine, which runs a political training program for Democratic women; went to the campaign office of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; met with state Sen. Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, president of the Maine Senate; and met with Cape Elizabeth High School social studies classes and the student World Affairs Council.
Access to politics and public office varies widely across the Middle East. In some countries, such as Lebanon, women are mostly welcomed as equals in the political world, said May Tony Akl.
Akl is an official with the Free Patriotic Movement, which was one of the political groups active in the "Cedar Revolution" of 2005, which resulted in the ouster of Syrian forces from Lebanon. The country only recently revamped its election laws, getting rid of a system under which the Syrians controlled voting and effectively named the winners, Akl said.
Akl said Lebanese political parties now face many of the same issues parties in the United States have, grappling with how many paid staffers should be hired, encouraging volunteers and figuring out fundraising.
Lebanon has six or seven major parties, often set up along religious lines, said Maya Sukar, who works for the Christian-based Lebanese Forces Party.
Sukar said many Lebanese women don't like politics, so she hopes telling them about how involved women are in the U.S. might lead to a change of heart and encourage more to become candidates or work for a party.
Al-Anbari said things are improving in politics for women in her country. She said the law was only recently changed to allow women to run for the national legislature, providing an opportunity for women like the one who wants to institute a quota.
"I am ambitious now and want to offer her help," Al-Anbari said.
The law was also only recently changed to allow women to run for office in the United Arab Emirates, said Suaad Zaayed Ibrahim Al Oraimi. She said half of the legislature is elected popularly and half selected by the government. In the most recent election, one woman won a seat and eight were appointed, giving women nine of 40 seats.
"It's good. I am happy with that," said Al Oraimi, a professor.
Al Oraimi said getting UAE residents interested in politics and government can be difficult. With oil revenue, the country provides free housing, health care and education and is responsible for creating most of the jobs that are available.
With that amount of government support, she said, many residents just want to make sure the services keep coming.
"They are comfortable and don't feel the need to fight for everything," she said.
The program began Oct. 14 in Washington with a series of seminars on the U.S. political system and then visits to states. After wrapping up the visit to Portland today, the group will head to Seattle to observe the last days of political races there and watch the results of the voting Tuesday.
-- Portland Press Herald
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