Bahraini women fight traditions in polls

The only woman in Bahrain's outgoing parliament has already secured her seat, unopposed ahead of Saturday's elections, but the other seven women vying for seats look set to fall victim to sexist traditions.

"The chances of success are not big," lamented Chahzelane Khamis, who lost election bids in 2002 and 2006 and is among 137 candidates vying for a place in the 40-member house.

She said the Gulf kingdom's constituencies should be reduced in number in order to "increase the chances of women being elected ... in large constituencies that would be less influenced by tribal and confessional factors."

"Parliament should be balanced to represent society well," said candidate Roqaya Amiriya, a US-educated psychologist who said female MPs are better placed to address issues related to women and children.

But Tahani al-Mokdad, a teacher at an election rally by the largest Shiite group, Wefaq, which is not fielding any female cadidates, said "society does not trust women."

"Many people do not want to be represented by a woman, due to traditions," she added.

It was only nine years ago that Bahraini women won the right to vote and run for office following a referendum on political reform that turned the Shiite-majority archipelago, ruled by a Sunni dynasty, into a constitutional monarchy.

But no women got past the post in the 2002 election, the first since parliament was suspended in 1975.

In 2006, Latifa al-Qouhoud was the only woman to enter the legislative chamber after winning he constituency's seat unopposed. She has had the same luck this year.

"Our society is conservative" said Rim Khalifa, a journalist at Al-Wasat daily, pointing out that the main Sunni and Shiite Islamist groups do not have any female candidates.

"Certain groups, like the (Sunni Salafist) Al-Assala, prohibit all political or parliamentary involvement for women," although Bahraini women work not only as taxi drivers but as cabinet ministers, she said.

Munira Fakhrou, a woman running with the National Democratic Action Association, an alliance of pan-Arab nationalists and leftists, also said that reducing the number of constituencies would improve women's chances.

Although she still believes that "certain candidates might make a breakthrough" in this elections, she is looking more to the future for change.

"The percentage of female students at the universities of the Gulf is higher than that of males," she said, and these young women "believe in modernity."

Others among the women candidates are banking on a change of opinion among voters disappointed by the outgoing parliament.

There is "a strong wish for change" among voters disappointed by the past eight years of parliamentary experience, said Mariam al-Rowayi, who heads the Union of Bahraini Women.

"People feel that MPs have focused on issues that provoke sectarianism and ignored the main problems, while they expected them to concentrate on the needs of their daily lives," she said.

In 2006, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa named 10 women to the upper chamber, or the 40-member consultative council, to compensate for the absence of women in the parliament.    

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