Parliament to have woman speaker
Fawzia Zainal is the third Arab woman to head parliament after the UAE and Syria
Fawzia Zainal is the third Arab woman to head parliament after the UAE and Syria |
Fawzia Zainal made history on Wednesday by becoming the first female parliament speaker. She was voted in by the members of the Council of Representatives, the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament.
Fawzia received 25 votes while the two other contenders, Adel Assoomi and Eisa Al Kooheji, got 13 and two respectively.
Her triumph was enhanced by the fact that she is a firsttime lawmaker, unlike Al Assomi who has been representing the First Constituency of the Capital since 2006 and Al Kooheji, the representative of the Fifth Constituency in Muharraq since 2010.
Bahrain is the third Arab country to have a woman president of the parliament. The UAE was the first in 2015 and Syria was the second a year later.
Zainal ran twice before. The first in 2006 and the second in 2014. Both times she lost as she faced stiff competition from conservative forces opposed to women in politics. Some of her billboard posters were defaced and her tent headquarters set ablaze.
Women to the fore
There has been a growing social consensus in Bahrain that it was time for a woman to lead the parliament based on the “vast experience they accumulated over years of being members.”
The first female MP was Lateefa Al Gaood who was elected in 2006 after an unsuccessful bid in 2002. Over the years the number of female parliamentarians has been around three but it doubled with this election.
“I thank you for your trust in me,” Fawzia said after she was declared Speaker. “Your votes mean a lot to me and we should all work together to turn the promises and pledges we made during the electoral campaigns a reality on the ground.”
In his speech at the opening of the new term of the parliament, King Hamad paid rich tribute to women. “We highlight the leading role of Bahraini women that has helped shape our contemporary civil state, moving beyond the stage of empowerment to where women enjoy full human rights and work alongside men,” he said.