“our rights have been violated”: Somalian men fuss over the victory of women in Parliament

The lower house of the Somali Parliament has passed a law that grants women 30% of the seats in the two parliamentary chambers. A great victory obtained by the Somali women, but the victory is not in good taste for some men.

According to information reported by the BBC, the lower house of the Somali Parliament has passed a law that grants women 30% of the seats in the two parliamentary chambers. This decision comes at a time when Somali women are strongly contesting their under-representation. While the lower house has a total of 274 seats, the upper house has 54 seats.

It’s intending to correct this oddity that Parliament adopted the law allowing for greater representation of women in the Hemicycle. This is an exceptional democratic achievement for women who have been left behind until now.

According to the reports, the decision was a pill that was more than difficult to swallow for some, especially men, who strongly objected to the new provision. This is the case of Abdirashid Duale Ahmed, who is shouting scandalously. For him, “our rights have been violated”.

Some who still had the hope of sitting in Parliament by winning a seat in the next election have simply rejected the new legislation. Because, in their eyes, voters had to have the freedom to make their choice on the desired candidate, not by allocating seats for women.