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| Volume XIV, Winter 2007, Number 4 |
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ABSTRACT
Women in the Maghreb: Civil Society's Actors or Political Instruments?
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| Louisa Dris-Aït-Hamadouche |
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Dr. Dris-Aït-Hamadouche is professor of international conflict at the University of Algiers. She also teaches at the High Institute of Studies in National Security and is a researcher with the Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée pour le Développement.
It is impossible to discuss democratization, human development and human rights anywhere in the world without including the role of women. Before evaluating it in the Maghrebi countries, it is important to point out that female representation in public life (governments, parliaments, civil society, economic enterprises, etc.) is a universal issue. With the exception of some Scandinavian countries, almost all countries lack significant female representation at most levels of society. Nevertheless, 2005 marked a new record of accomplishment for women politically: one out of five parliamentarians elected in 2005 was a woman. In ten countries (Rwanda, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Andorra, Burundi, Iraq, New Zealand and the United Republic of Tanzania), more than 30 percent of those either elected or returned to parliament were women. However, while some developing countries in Africa and Latin America (Honduras, Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia) are progressing, little progress can be noted in the Arab world. Arab countries demonstrated the lowest increase in female political participation (2.5 percent) between 1995 and 2005; this anemic progress was due to the quotas imposed in some countries, such as Morocco and Tunisia.
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