Hiiraan Online

by Amina Abdirahman
Monday, September 03, 2012

A little discussed issue throughout the Somali crisis is the role of women, and Somali women’s special victim status. During the Somali crisis, it was the Somali women who kept the nation together. They were the backbone and the fabric that held the nation and country together while male warlords and their fighters destroyed the country in search of power, prestige, and blunder of national assets. Even the famine is man-made as it’s a direct result of charcoal export business. The cutting of trees for charcoal has caused the desertification of the once rich agricultural lands of the south. Yet, anytime that there is talk of political representation, its women that are marginalized. The 30% target of representation is a mere pipe dream. The warlords and their special interests , using religion and mullahs, have tried to dress this pig with lipstick.

Here is a sample of the injustice meted out to the Somali women within the Darod clan. However, the injustice is not confined to the Darod but it is nationwide.

Ø  At 30%, they were supposed to get 18 seats.

Ø  But the women were only assigned 3 seats, a deficit of an astounding 15 seats

The current situation in the political rebirth of Somalia is a call to arms for Somalia women to say enough is enough. When the civil war was raging, it was the Somali woman who stayed behind, or took the long march to safety with the children. It was the Somali woman that held that baby in her arms as the child died. In Canada, USA, Europe, and Austraila, it is the Somali women who stayed behind to raise the children, to put them through school, and who showed up at graduation. Some men , in pursuit of power, have not seen their children speak that first word, or take that first step. The Somali women is at once the most important figure in the Somali family, and also the most unimportant and marginalized. The new Somalia constitution gives many explicit rights to women, and paramount among that is that of human rights and personal rights. 

Beyond the constitution, more basic and more meaningful to all humanity is the rights given to women in Islam.  During prophet Mohamed’s , SCWS, women played an important role in the Muslim Umaah.. I challenge anyone to present any Islamic edict that prohibits women from political participation.  On the contrary, the Quran teaches us that “The believers men and women are protectors one of another: they enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil: they observe regular prayers practice regular charity and obey Allah and His apostle. On them will Allah pour His mercy: for Allah is exalted in power Wise. (Quran 9:71). The Prophet Mohamed, (peace and blessing be upon him), said, “Women are the twin halves of men.”, “The more civil and kind a Muslim is to his wife, the more perfect in faith he is.” The notion that so called clan elders, self styled mullah, and their collaborators can use Islam to deny women what Allah has ordained for them is blasphemous. It is also up to women to stand up for themselves and demand what is theirs.

Someone once said that power is never given, it is only taken. Somali women have to take the power, no one will give it to them. Least of all the warlords who took it in the first place. The notion that Islam has decreed that women cannot hold political office or participate in the political process as a seat in parliament is hogwash.

Khatumo Women Group