The hard feat of Algerian women to enter politics

In rural Algeria, women are conspicuous by their absence on the streets and in public life.

It seems her only mission in life is to stay home and take care of her family.

Before the pandemic they lived in confinement, confesses Yasmina Bousba, Councilor for Social Affairs at the Sidi Ladjel City Council, a small Algerian town located 150 kilometers south of the capital.

For many in her village, Bousba is nothing more than a tomboy and an outsider in a job that belongs only to men: politics.

Her destiny, like that of most of those who live in rural areas, was to get married and have children.

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He struggled to study.

He had to travel many kilometers to attend class and, since then, it has already started to be on everyone's lips.

For a young girl to travel alone was not frowned upon by her neighbors.

He managed to enroll in law at university, but his dream was frustrated: they had arranged a marriage for him.

“My ambition was much more than being a homemaker.

I could not get used to the idea and could not imagine every day locked between four walls.

I got divorced right away, after having my first child, ”she says.

She could only become independent by working and taking care of her child.

Then he offered himself as a teaching assistant in a college;

she was the only employee at the center.

She did not like what she was doing, but she was aware that it was a revolutionary act that would allow her to break the chains of the imposition of having to be submissive.

Since then, the road has been long.

“From the first day I decided to leave my house and go to work and become the first elected woman in my town,” she says.

He convinced his father to run on one of the local election lists.

"I could not present my candidacy, I needed the authorization of a tutor", argues Bousba from the other side of the screen, with a lively look, big black eyes, and a wide smile.

“Mine is a macho village.

You don't see women on the streets.

Now, in recent years, there are already some who work in school or in the outpatient clinic.

But we are very few.

The streets are for them and the house for us ”, he says in an indignant tone.

She assures that in the meetings she is the last to speak and that, at the beginning, when she went house to house to see the needs of the families, there were men who would not open the door and tell her that they did not deal with women.

When asked when she will be mayor, before answering, she smiles and immediately says: “In a rural area?

It is still very early ”.

She remains thoughtful and reiterates: “It is very early;

I can't tell you when ”.

She is currently serving her second term and is responsible for Social Affairs of the consistory.

The situation of the Algerians improves as we approach the big cities.

From Algiers, the lawyer and activist for women's rights Nadia Ait-Zai, blames the responsibility for female discrimination in rural areas on political parties and laments: "Today" there are only four municipalities headed by women. few, since we have more than 4,500 throughout the country ”.

Ait-Zai is founder and president of the Center for Information and Documentation on the Rights of the Child and Women (CIDDEF), and explains that her organization is proposing to review the application of the Quota Law of 2012, which requires the allocation of 30 % of women in national bodies and financial incentives for political parties for each elected.

This allowed the election of 146 for the National Assembly in the legislative elections of 2012. “Some tell us that this mechanism is contrary to equality, that we must bet on the competence of women, but we answer that constitutional equality is virtual , but which is then built through laws and mechanisms that are put into practice ”, he explains.

Bousba dared to take a first step after participating in a project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), entitled

.

He assures that in this program he collected all the tools that allowed him to understand what his work consisted of, but above all he obtained the certainty that he was capable of doing it "equal to or better than them."

Discrimination also exists within politics;

her gender makes her the object of criticism for her adversaries.

What weighs the most is that no one crosses out her work or her efforts: "They speak ill of me for being a woman, they say such absurd things as' it's not normal and she goes out at night alone."

She acknowledges that what she has experienced is "violence against women in politics."

Bousba has suffered many attacks and often thinks of throwing in the towel every time he is told: "I am not represented by women, you do not speak, you do not speak."

Or when they made her feel like a criminal for wanting to practice politics and repeated over and over again that it was "shameful."

But she resists.

The 2018 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (SRVAW) states that violence against women in politics “is often normalized and tolerated, especially in contexts where patriarchy is deeply rooted in society ”and that can be“ any act or threat of violence that causes physical, sexual, psychological damage or suffering, which prevents them from exercising and realizing their political rights ”.

They can be isolated attacks, "perpetrated by a member of the family, a member of the community and / or by the State."

The participation of women in politics is key, but it does not always guarantee an advance in rights and freedoms for the female population, says lawyer Ait-Zaid: “Many are members of their political party and first defend its political line, which is not necessarily favorable to their rights ”.

The evolution, in legislative matters, he emphasizes, "has not been achieved thanks to politicians, but to the efforts of women."

Algeria is ranked 120 in the 2020 Inter-Parliamentary Union ranking of Women in Politics. According to this list, the country has five female ministers compared to 33 male ministers.

In the National Assembly, they occupy 25.5% of the seats, and in the Senate, only 6.8%.

Nadia Ait-Zaid is one of the promoters of Article 40 of the new Constitution approved last Sunday, November 1, where the prohibition of violence against women is raised to constitutional rank.

The amendment was approved through a referendum that has broken the record in abstention, with a 23.70% participation.

What the Government had been announcing as "the new Algeria" has met with the sharp opposition of the Hirak, a mass protest movement that calls for structural changes in the political system in force since 1963, which considers it a "change of facade".

Feminists have set this 2020 date on their calendar.

Article 40 is a milestone, as it includes "establishing the protection of women against forms of violence that are exercised against them in the public, professional and private spheres."

Ait-Zaid explains that with this, "the State expresses a political will to protect them, but above all, it lays the constitutional basis for the articles of the penal code that have already criminalized these acts since 2015."

From the city of Oran, the young activist Ferida Bouchenaf, defender of Human Rights and face during the Hirak demonstrations that triggered the resignation of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, explains that she abstained and did not vote in the referendum.

He acknowledges that this may be an important step, but he denounces that "it is a political instrumentalization" and an image wash: "How is it possible that, in 2020, a State that calls itself democratic, does not protect women?"

The activist regrets that an “obsolete” Family Code continues to have weight in her country, which, in her opinion, “is the source of the violence and discrimination suffered by Algerian women”.

Bouchenaf denounces the incongruity: “According to the Constitution, we are equal, but the Family Code treats us as inferior beings.

Women in Algeria can be a parliamentarian, even a president, they can buy a house, but they cannot marry without a legal guardian, they are always a minor ”.

Bouchenaf lists the real challenges they face every day.

"The testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man, they can divorce with repeating three times 'talaq, talaq, talaq' (divorce)."

However, "if a woman wants to get divorced, she has to go before the judge and show why, she has to give explanations and bring testimonies with issues that are sometimes very difficult to prove."

And unlike them, "no woman can say that she is sexually unsatisfied."

Faced with the impatience of young women to achieve new advances, the renowned lawyer maintains hope in each small step taken.

So far in 2020, according to the Algerian Feminicides platform, there have been 43 sexist murders committed by the spouse or former spouse.

Nadia Ait Zaid wonders if Algerians accept this reality.

“We cannot say that society is not reacting.

In the absence of surveys and polls, it is the social networks that give us an overview of the position of the citizenry, which condemns these crimes, ”he says.

For his part, Bousba is aware that they do not have a choice: "Women have to enter the game, because we know how to play and, also, we know everything we play."

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