Women in Mideast politics: One step forward, two steps back

Exactly 13 years ago today, on 10 Dec. 2003, Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi became the first Muslim woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize for her work on human rights with a special focus on women.
A staunch critique of Iranian regime, Ebadi has been exiled from Iran since 2009 for her work defending and expanding the rights of Muslim women. She faced humiliation and intimidation, her phones were tapped, her friends were sent to prison and she was attacked — all because she called for a freer world for women. She is now based in London and from there continues to be a key voice for women in the Middle East.
The last decade saw two other very important women win the Nobel Peace Prize and become great inspirations for women in the Muslim world. One of them was Yemeni journalist, politician and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, and the other was Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai.
When the people took to the streets during the Arab uprisings of 2011, not only men but also women were highly visible among those calling for democracy, justice, equality and freedom. Karman — who leads the group “Women Journalists Without Chains,” which she co-founded in 2005 — stood on the front-lines. Karman became the international public face of the 2011 Yemeni uprising, and was soon named by Yemenis as the “Iron Woman” and the “Mother of the Revolution”. The same year she received the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the second Muslim woman after Ebadi to win the honor.
Inspired by these courageous women, Malala received the Nobel Prize for Peace at the age of 17 and became the youngest person who ever won the prestigious award. Like the above mentioned names, Malala also paid a high price when defending the rights of women. She was shot in the head by a gunman in 2012 after demanding that girls should be allowed to receive an education, in defiance of the Taliban in Pakistan. Malala survived the initial attack and became a great inspiration for all young women who want to study and work, despite the difficulties they may face.
Thanks to women like Ebadi, Karman and Malala, the women in the Middle East today raise their voices higher than ever against all kinds of discrimination in education, working life and politics.
Despite that, the Middle East as a whole is still a long way from being a region where women are actively engaged in political life. Politics is still considered a male-dominated profession in regional countries, particularly in the Gulf, with the ratio of women to men lower compared to many other countries elsewhere in the world.
There have been positive changes in countries such as Bahrain, where women gained the right to vote in 2002, and Saudi Arabia, where women went to polls for the first time in 2015, and Kuwait, where since 2005 women have had a say in politics. But there is still a relative lack of visibility of women in politics and government.
I particularly want to touch upon the recent elections in Kuwait, which is a special case when compared to its neighbors. In a region where women’s participation in business and political life was out of the question a decade ago, Kuwait stands as a remarkable exception. Women make up more than half of the labor force in Kuwait, and are highly educated, according to the World Economic Forum. However, when it comes to women’s representation in parliament, the country still has a poor record.
In the latest elections, fifteen women ran for the 50 open seats in Kuwait’s parliament, but only one won: Safa Al-Hashem, who was reelected. Her election as the only female MP shows the struggle woman still face, a decade on, in seeking seats in the parliament.
This election also saw the lowest level of representation since 2005, when women were given the right to vote and run in national elections. In the 2009 elections four female candidates won seats — making history both in the country and elsewhere in the Gulf — and in 2012, three women candidates took seats. And so the 2016 elections could be seen as a case of “one step forward, two steps back” for the status of women in Kuwaiti politics, and in the Middle East in general.
Despite all this, the one thing for sure is that women will continue to seek an improvement in their parliamentary record and secure voices that will boost their political empowerment within these conservative societies. With many having achieved victory and become beacons of hope for the region, women are not likely to stand for this “one step forward, two steps back” scenario. The countries they live in, however, should also assume further responsibility.
• Sinem Cengiz is a Turkish political analyst who specializes mainly on issues regarding Turkey’s relations with the Middle East. She can be reached on Twitter @SinemCngz