Abstract
Centering the Mauritanian case, this chapter highlights two distinct realities that characterize the equation between woman and politics: the strength of their commitment and ability to have a voice, on the one hand, and the limited place and minor role they are granted within institutions of power, on the other hand. This “paradox” is explained by a second paradox: women’s passage from the backstage to the stage in politics qualifies less as an argument of gender equality “in progress”—one of the trappings of democracy—than as a strategy of a patronage power seeking to maintain itself by manipulating at all costs the individualistic tendencies of female political and economic actors, who are also in search of opportunities for success. It is this “trap” that precludes women from scoring real gains that would allow them to fully assert themselves on an equal basis with men and have a genuine impact on politics.
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Translated from French into English by Fatima Sadiqi
The title is reminiscent of the imaginary-based Baydhan [Moor] that “serious” conversations—including political ones—are related to the well, the typically masculine space, while most trivial discussions are related to the tent, the female space. I would like to warmly thank Fatima Sadiqi and Kelley Sams for the translation. Céline Lesourd, anthropologist, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Marseille.
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Fieldwork notes, Nouakchott, March 2007.
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This is the 2006-029 Ordinance, soon renamed by everyone as the “female quota law.”
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Fieldwork notes, Nouakchott, March 2007.
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The Moorish women [Baydhaniyat] refuse polygamy, which is not the case for other Mauritanian women belonging to so-called “Negro-Mauritanian” communities, namely the Haalpulars, the Soninkés, and the Wolofs.
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It should be noted that the women in question were mainly Moorish, relatively young, and lived mostly in Nouakchott and in some inland cities such as Nouadhibou, Zouerate, Tidjikja, and Magta Lahjar.
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This was a clandestine Maoist protest movement driven by students and trade unions, whose members made up the Party of Mauritanian Kaddihin.
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Naha Mint Mouknass, Advisor to the President, is the first woman to lead a political party in Mauritania. Daughter of Hamdi Ould Mouknass (former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Ould Daddah rule), Naha Mint Mouknass was elected to succeed her father as head of the party in 2000. With Louisa Hanoune, she is, to our knowledge, one of the few women to have access to such a responsibility in the region. In Morocco, Nabila Mounib heads a leftist party.
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Aïchatou Mint Jiddan was a candidate to the presidential elections in November 2003 but obtained only 0.47% of the votes. Originating from Kiffa, she claimed herself “on the side of the opposition” and put forward a program characterized by proposals relating to women: the institution of a security motion for divorce and proposals against excision and physical abuse of females, such as over-feeding girls. Many of her critics accused the regime of Ould Taya of fabricating this candidate, this “joke,” to show foreign observers an image of a democratic and gender-egalitarian Mauritania.
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These cabinets surrounded the Secretary General and constituted the “staff” of the PRDS. Through cabinets, specific areas such as relations with civil society, training of cadres and activists, and follow-up of the popular structures of the party were managed.
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“Department” or, in the case of Nouakchott, “district.”
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Jeune Afrique no. 2390, October 29–November 4, 2006.
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F., former leader of a political party, March 2007.
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M., NGO (Non-Government Organizations) director, March 2007.
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Civil servant, March 2007.
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It is rare for women to have access to positions of responsibility in public administration. A 1992 survey identified 49 women out of 832 in decision-making positions (less than 6 %) (Mint Abdallah, 1992), but, as noted by Amel Daddah (2003, 59): “If we limit ourselves to only the first three categories (Minister, Secretary General, and Special Advisor), the share of women in the total number of individuals placed in positions of decision-making in the ministries moves to 0.47 % (against 5 % for men).” A more recent study (2002) reported that women have occupied a third of the decision-making positions at intermediate levels (directors of staff, counselors of decision-making men, 1 % of general secretaries and leaders of missions) since 1992, which remains derisory. However, statistical analyses suggest that significant progress has been made with respect to girls’ access to primary schooling: gross rates of female enrollment stood at 88.9 % against 88.5 % for boys for 2001–2002 and 92.7 % against 90.7 % for girls and boys, respectively, for 2002–2003. In contrast, 43 % more boys than girls were attending junior secondary school in 2000, compared to only 31.3 % more in 1990 to 43 % in 2000.
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Descendants of enfranchised slaves (sing.: Hartani).
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The APP, the party of Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, is constituted of Haratin and Nasserists.
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The mayors of each municipality must vote among themselves for the president of the Urban Community of Nouakchott (CUN). Because Ould Hamza was elected to the presidency of the CUN after his election in Tevragh-Zeina, the seat went to Mrs. Koulibali. In 2013, Ould Hamza left the urban community seat to a woman, Maty Mint Hamady, the first woman president of the CUN. For more details on the function of the town hall of Nouakchott and the CUN, see the work of Armelle Choplin (2009).
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Three deputies under Taya out of 75 (4 %).
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There were three polls on the election day: one for municipal elections and two for the legislative elections, as deputies had to be chosen from both a regional and a national lists. The National Assembly proposed 81 regional seats and 14 seats for the “national deputies.”
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In the successive governmental formations, black Mauritanians have constituted about 20 %, while the Moors, by contrast, have been particularly well represented.
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Military head of state in 1978; one of the perpetrators of the July 10, 1978 coup that ousted Mokhtar Ould Daddah.
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Interview with C., political leader of an opposition party, May 2014.
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Lesourd, C. (2016). The Lipstick on the Edge of the Well: Mauritanian Women and Political Power (1960–2014). In: Sadiqi, F. (eds) Women’s Movements in Post-“Arab Spring” North Africa. Comparative Feminist Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50675-7_6
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