Debate continues about women candidates and FNC

Among other things, a study found that women running for election to the Federal National Council were unprepared or overconfident.

AL AIN // The question of why only one woman was elected in the last Federal National Council race has again come up for debate.

One popular candidate during the 2011 elections, Dr Moza Ghobash, a professor of sociology, spoke of her hardships at the Ministry of State of FNC Affairs’ political awareness forum at UAE University on Monday.

Tied down by time and strict regulations issued by the National Election Committee, Dr Ghobash said that if strings were loosened, women would have a better chance at winning a seat.

She called for the 40-member council to be 75 per cent elected and for voters to be allowed to choose a candidate outside their emirate.

She added that tribal dynamics played a role in the elections with some voters leaning towards family ties.

“I want to say that this is something that is refused in the UAE – what brings us together is unity,” she said.

She said society’s perception of women was not in her favour either.

Although Dr Sheikh Al Ari, an FNC member from Umm Al Quwain, said women and men had equal opportunity, Dr Ghobash said women were still at a disadvantage in some families.

She said often men have little confidence in women, and sometimes women have little confidence in other women leading to them. The result is a low number of votes.

On the other hand, professors at UAE University conducted a study into female candidates at the last elections and found a number of alarming results..

Dr Nesreen Murad, assistant professor in political science, said the study found some female candidates were over-confident.

Some believed they could win election without bothering to campaign. They had little knowledge of how to run a campaign and did not care to look at how other women in other countries ran for office. Also, they chose campaign managers with little knowledge of the FNC.