Local anti-corruption NGO, Transparency Maldives (TM) has kicked off a symposium on women’s political participation.

In participation with UN Development Programme in the Maldives (UNDP), the symposium will proceed for two days at Hotel Jen in capital city Malé.

TM’s Advocacy and Communication Manager Aminath Rasheed revealed that the symposium will focus on better understanding the distinctions of challenges women face in politics and explore methods to overcome these challenges as well as to commit to goals to address gender imbalances in power and to increase women’s political participation.

She went on to reveal that the symposium will focus on discussing a way through which women can wriggle out of gender discrimination and strive forward to get more involved in political matters.

The symposium was attended by government stakeholders, political parties, civil society as well as activists and was honored by Minister of Gender, Family and Social Service, Shidhatha Shareef.

Speaking at the event, Minister Shidhatha stressed that there is a “huge” gap between men and women in elected positions. As such, she stressed that women didn’t see the results they hoped to see in the recent Parliamentary Elections. She stated that it is important to understand what the real issues are and work towards finding a meaningful solution.

Local anti-corruption NGO, Transparency Maldives (TM) has kicked off a symposium on women’s political participation.

In participation with UN Development Programme in the Maldives (UNDP), the symposium will proceed for two days at Hotel Jen in capital city Malé.

TM’s Advocacy and Communication Manager Aminath Rasheed revealed that the symposium will focus on better understanding the distinctions of challenges women face in politics and explore methods to overcome these challenges as well as to commit to goals to address gender imbalances in power and to increase women’s political participation.

She went on to reveal that the symposium will focus on discussing a way through which women can wriggle out of gender discrimination and strive forward to get more involved in political matters.

The symposium was attended by government stakeholders, political parties, civil society as well as activists and was honored by Minister of Gender, Family and Social Service, Shidhatha Shareef.

Speaking at the event, Minister Shidhatha stressed that there is a “huge” gap between men and women in elected positions. As such, she stressed that women didn’t see the results they hoped to see in the recent Parliamentary Elections. She stated that it is important to understand what the real issues are and work towards finding a meaningful solution.

"I am asked when talking about quotas, if there is a legal barrier for women to participate. The answer is clear. Women are at a disadvantage as their starting point on the political race is far behind men. We need affirmative action to bridge the gap" said Shidhatha.

She also stated that women are already the furthest group behind and finishes last. In order to close this gap, Shidhatha said that it is required to implement affirmative actions to ensure women’s meaningful participation.

Also speaking during the event, Deputy Minister of Gender, Fathmath Yumna emphasized that the enforcement of the law falls on all sectors including private and public.

She highlighted that almost 90 percent of the informal sector workers are women and the value of unpaid care and domestic work carried out by them is “largely” unrecognized.

In a tweet, TM had appreciated Minister Shidhatha for her commitment in increasing women’s participation in politics.

On Sunday afternoon, TM began its session on Affirmative Actions which was joined by panelists Ahmed Anwar from local NGO “Hope for Women” and Shamha Naseer from UNDP Maldives.

During the panel discussion, Anwar revealed that the level of commitment from political parties to increase women representing their leadership, is “inadequate”.

He added that it is observed that a “bottom up” approach is used rather than politicians at policy level advocating to include special measures. Stressing that some men make “degrading” and sexist comments and remarks towards women in general, Anwar added that this is done in the Parliament as well.

“Religious misconceptions about women's participation in public life, especially those that question women's ability to be leaders, threatens to reverse the gains women have made over the years" said Anwar.

Further, he said that the high prevalence of violence against women that is perpetrated by men, is an indicator that practices associated with male dominance or patriarchy is one of the greatest assets contributing to the restriction of women’s equal participation.