Sarah Sayeed, Ph.D., President, Women In Islam, Inc.
“To not change is a problem. Change is like a flowing river that we must embrace,” noted Fatma Sahin, Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policies. She gave the opening remarks at a major convening of parliamentarians, academic scholars and NGOs from Muslim societies. Women In Islam, Inc. is invited as a non-profit Muslim women’s organization focused on human rights. Held in Istanbul, Turkey and hosted by the Turkish government, the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the conference (www.changeandwomen.org) aims to highlight the accomplishments and remaining challenges of involving women in democratic governance across Muslim-majority countries. By bringing together leaders and thinkers and doers from these nations, the conference creates a forum for a sharing of lessons and goal setting for countries as a whole. It also allows Turkey to highlight its own accomplishments, and in the words of Sahin, “to share the trend of democratic developments within Turkey with other countries.” She also stressed the need for political will to actualize change and called for Muslim women to stand together as sisters in advocating for fairness and justice.
Among the highlights of the conference was a keynote address by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He commended Egyptian women for “lighting the fire of change,” and acknowledged that the recent revolutions are not without the pain that accompanies transformation; referring to a recent story about a woman being dragged, he acknowledged that women are on the front lines bearing this pain. “The most important aspects of change have been led by women- the more women have changed the more societies have changed; societies where women have been discriminated against, those societies have lagged behind, societies that don’t value their mothers, girls, they have no way of reaching peace and happiness; when rights that are kept from women, or men abuse women, the nation cannot find way to become modern and civilized,” he stated. Not surprisingly, a bulk of Erdogan’s speech also addressed French President Sarcozy’s recent introduction by Turkey, and he decried the underlying anti-Muslim xenophobia of Sarcozy and his party.
In two in-depth sessions, one a round-table and another a plenary, delegates of the parliaments of Islamic countries spoke in detail about the representation of women in parliaments, which totals an average of 18% of parliamentary seats around the world, the highest in Nordic countries (41%) and the lowest in Arab states (9.4%) and the Pacific (13.4%). Interestingly, Africa and Asia are at about 17% while Europe is at 19% and the Americas are at about 22%. Many country representatives spoke about the establishment of quotas to improve representation at national and local levels of governance; the representative of Mali said women candidates are offered financial incentives to run for office as a way to encourage them, and that women are taking advantage of these offers. All representatives trod the line of representing their country in the best light, but also, making an effort to critique their own progress. (For additional statistics by country, please visit the conference website.)
The last plenary of the day focused upon the rapidly changing context of the Middle East and North Africa. Two main take-away points emerged from this sessions: that while women have played critical roles in the revolutionary movements, there must be diligent monitoring of women’s rights because in some contexts women risk losing previous gains; and that media have a responsibility to be more proactive in showing the centrality of women and women’s rights in the change movements. Speakers continued to highlight the need for Muslim women to stand united in this vigilance and struggle. Tomorrow will bring discussions of Islam and Democracy and establishment of a Gender Equality Institute within the OIC.
