Interview with Mauritanian women's rights advocate Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam

2007-04-27

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam, former Mauritanian parliamentarian and current president of the Support Team for Women's Attaining Decision-making Positions spoke with Magharebia in Casablanca, while attending a "Study Day" organised by the Daba 2007 association.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 27/04/2007

[Imane Belhaj] Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam

Former Mauritanian legislator and women's rights advocate Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam spoke to Magharebia recently while attending a "Study Day" on political participation. The event was organised by the Daba 2007 association on Tuesday (April 24th) in preparation for this year’s general elections in Morocco. She spoke to Magharebia about the new political climate in her country, and about the role and participation of women in democratic transition.

Magharebia: What can be said about the role of Mauritanian women in the democratic transition which the country has experienced of late?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: The great change which recently took place in our country has helped open up the issue of women's representation in political and administrative institutions. We have worked with women’s groups and non-governmental organisations and gatherings, even within the government itself, for example the Secretariat of State for Women's Affairs. We were able, with considerable effort, to convince those in power of the importance of this development.

I do not deny that we are in a society dominated by tribal and feudal groupings, and therefore it was hard for Mauritanian society in general to accord women their own status. It was also difficult for women themselves to be convinced that they could be candidates and be elected. But we felt that the most important thing was to bring in a law that ensured participation, or allocated a percentage of seats for women in democratic institutions. And in fact, after our efforts to sway political opinion amongst the parties and those in power, we were able to insist on this law and get it past the necessary institutions.

Thanks to the law, and with the will of Mauritanian women, we were able, with extreme difficulty, to guarantee 20% of electoral seats. This has created much controversy in political circles and within the parties, as to how Mauritanian women could be candidates and their ability to fund their election campaigns, as well as facing and influencing voters. However the outcome was better than we had imagined, and Mauritanian women proved that they were capable of carrying the responsibility and of succeeding in these elections. Instead of 20%, they won 30% in local councils and 21% of the elected positions in the Upper House and National Assembly.

Magharebia: In the new political climate, has the situation of women changed socially?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: This is inevitable. We have nearly finished the legislative and municipal elections, even the presidential ones, but what this has proved to us is that we are able to overcome the challenge. This is a very important thing, and no doubt it will benefit the situation of women and the family, and the national situation as a whole, because this participation is in the interest of the whole of society and not just women.

Magharebia: Which is the better platform for Mauritanian women, political parties or civil society?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: Civil society is better. [For example], as president of the Support Team for Women's Attaining Decision-making Positions, I am working to secure women's rights in full measure. There are also human rights organisations whose work benefits women, in addition to independent women worthy of inclusion in this field. In particular, political will helps women to attain these positions. However, the political parties, although they understand the issue and share our viewpoint, want someone able to win so that they do not lose the constituencies for which they have candidates, and accordingly feel they have a better chance with a man, because women still are less successful in a developing country such as ours, where poverty remains the greatest obstacle.

Magharebia: In addition to poverty, what are the possible impediments to the progress of Mauritanian women?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: Tribalism, the substantial male lobbies in party administration, and sometimes the lack of ambition and will on the part of women, so as to retain her model image in the home. They are apprehensive about embarking on these tasks because they are afraid of failure, particularly when they are not provided with material and moral means to develop their aspirations. There are a great many obstacles, such as the nature of working within the parties, and lobbies which seek to adopt the tribal way of doing things in which only men can decide matters, that is to say, adopting selection criteria along such tribal lines. Then on top of all this there is the financial weakness of women, as a fundamental obstacle.

Magharebia: Why, if they have entered the working world, are women still disadvantaged?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: Their participation in the field of work is something else where a great deal is needed. I believe that the women's participation in the Arab world, as well as in Africa and indeed the whole world, still has a long way to go. Perhaps a century is not enough for them to achieve self-realisation, and to achieve equality of representation at work.

Magharebia: Where would you place Mauritanian women among Arab women?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: At the moment, with the new political climate, we can consider them in the best of Arab positions, as 20% is something which has not been achieved in any other Arab state. So this means that we as Mauritanians have made a considerable advancement, and it also means emancipation and women’s determination not to return to the past.

Magharebia: As a member of civil society, how do you exert pressure on and influence Mauritanian women with regard to openness and awareness of their rights?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: We go to great lengths, we knock on doors and visit party offices, and we try to reach women as much as we can by organising seminars and awareness lectures. We take part in radio and television programmes, in order to convince everyone, including women, of the necessity and importance of women's participation in society and their being entitled to participate in decision-making. We have a chart which shows where women are in the different areas of work, and which generally reveals that they are present to some extent in medium-level jobs, nurses, midwives, administrative secretaries and others, and are rarely promoted to higher positions. But there is also significant ability, and this encourages us to persist in the struggle when we see how well this ability can complement our men, whether husbands or colleagues at work. This is what has made it understandable that we can aspire to decision-making positions.

Magharebia: What is your message to Moroccan women by attending this meeting?

Lemina Mohammed Bouya Oummam: I say to them persevere and keep up the struggle, because we have to get there, for the sake of the people, our nations, our families and first and foremost for the sake of women. We should share our experiences in order to find the mechanisms which are appropriate to the particular features of each of us, so as to attain the goal of integration and equality in senior positions, whether elected or in administration, in our countries.