If we are to effectively critique the patriarchal system that affects the promotion of peace in Mali, we must analyze the role of women in the peace building process. Although women make up the majority in Mali, they are still largely marginalized. Their role in peace building is often understated. This is because the violence against women and children often overshadows these roles. Violence is rooted in the inequity present in political and economic spheres. This input paper will briefly explore this issue, which will be expounded upon in my final paper.
In the 2002 national elections, fifteen women were elected as deputies, a position that offers 147 seats. Four women were appointed government ministers in a cabinet with 28 available seats. In the 2004 municipal elections, 705 women were elected as community councilors, out of a total of 10,733. This number represents a mere 6.5%. Furthermore, only seven women mayors out of 700, a mere one percent, were appointed (Legislature Results, 2007). These numbers are startling when one looks at Mali’s constitution, which outlaws discrimination based on gender. There have been several cases where Malian women were elected as mayors, but have been forced out of office because they did not receive proper ratification from the state due to resistance from some wealthy, ruling families; there was also a case where a female presidential candidate, Mme Aminata Sidibé, an acclaimed academic and environmental activist, was not taken seriously in her campaign against the political machine of Toure, the current president (Daniel, Patricia: 2006 pg. 7).
The miniscule representation of women in politics can be attributed to the small number of people who voted in the elections, thirty-three percent to be exact. This number becomes even more pressing if we look at the spread between rural and urban voters; 12 % of the capital’s citizens were voters, while 50% of rural citizens were voters (Daniel Patricia: 2007). The lack of education in the rural areas causes one to question the soundness of the appointments being made in the Malian government.
Socioeconomic factors also contribute to the lack of women in politics. Malian women are economically tied to the patriarchs of this society because of traditional practices in housing, marriage, and medicine. The men in Mali inherit the majority of the wealth and land. When women marry, their property gets transferred to the man. Women that own property are expected to get married because often, they cannot afford to care for themselves, due to the lack of available health insurance, good paying jobs and educational opportunities for women (U.S. Dept. of State: 2007). The International Center for Research on Women has conducted research on the relationship between women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and women’s property rights. They found that women who are not able to secure property, cannot obtain collateral for loans and have to resort to income-generating activities like prostitution, which inevitably increases vulnerability to HIV/AIDS (ICRW: 2006). This form of violence is an end result of the patriarchal systems in Mali and is not visible to most research. And if this isn’t enough, female genital mutilation is an ongoing problem in Mali; over 95% of Malian women have gone through with the procedure. The medical realm in Mali is male-dominated and uses FGM as a way to silence women.
The violence that stems from the lack of women’s economic and political power often eclipses the efforts that women have made to encourage and promote peace in Mali. Women have taken active roles in their communities in order to build peace. For instance, women are involved with handling local disputes and promoting sustainable means in Yorosso, a town populated by 50.86% of men and 49.14% of women (WiLDAF/ FeDDAF: 2007). And women are not only involved on the local scene. They made a major contribution to the peace talks between the rebel Tuaregs and the Malian government during the year 1990. While some of the men in the room couldn’t convince the Tuaregs to move toward an agenda of peace, some of the women in the room did so (Daniel, Patricia: 2006). These talks ultimately led to a peace pact that was signed in 1992.
Women help to build the peace in Mali in numerous ways. It is my goal to find out their contribution to branches of the government, such as the Malian army, that are supposed to promote peace. In my final paper I will explore the reasons behind the transparency of women’s contributions to peace building process in Mali.
WORKS CITED
- Daniel, Patricia. Democracy in Mali: the president and the prostitute. July 2007. <http://patriciadaniel.blogspot.com/2007/07/democracy-in-mali-president-and.html>
- Daniel, Patricia. Women, Peace, and Democracy in Mali. Centre for International Development and Training. University of Wolverhampton, 2006. <http://www.patriciadaniel.org.uk/WOMEN_PEACE_AND_DEMOCRACY_IN_MALI.pdf>
- De Jorio, Rosa. Female elites, women’s formal associations, and political practices in urban Mali (West Africa). Diss. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997. Dissertations & Theses: A&I. ProQuest.
- ICRW. Reducing Women’s and Girls’ Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS by Strengthening their Property and Inheritance Rights. May 2006. <http://www.icrw.org/docs/2006_proprghtsinfobull.pdf>
- Legislature Results: THE CARD OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DRAWS (translated by www.freetranslation.com). L’essor Publications: July 2007. <http://www.essor.gov.ml/jour/cgi-bin/view_article.pl?id=16194>
- U.S. Department of State. Mali: Country Report on Human Rights Practices. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor: 2007. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100492.htm
- WiLDAF/ FeDDAF. Projet « Bonne gouvernance et participation des femmes dans sept (7) pays de l’Afrique de l’ouest » : Le WiLDAF-Mali étend le projet au cercle de Yarosso (translated by www.freetranslation.com). 2007. <http://www.wildaf-ao.org/fr/article.php3?id_article=1195see>
