News Center - Yemeni, Qatari, and Saudi women obtained the women's quota in parliament very late, while Omani women are still demanding this right, because of the lack of political parties in the regime.

Although women have achieved their right to vote and run for elections in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula since the end of the twentieth century, the actual practice of this right was delayed, followed by a weak representation of women in parliaments and councils.

 Omani women demand women's quota in parliament

Omani women obtained the right to participate in the political field in 1994 by the initiative of Sultan Qaboos ben Saed.

In 1996, after some changes in the Omani Basic Law, Oman ranked first in the Gulf that gives women the right to vote.

In 1997, the State Council was established and elected five women represented in the appointed parliamentary body that consisting of 41 seats.

In 2000, Omani women entered the Shura Council. The Sultan issued a decree in late 2002; the decree says women have the rights to run for the Shura Council elections along with all citizens over the age (21). 2003 elections witnessed widespread participation of women, and their percent reached to 38% of voters.

But in the elections that took place in Oman, 590, including 20 women run for the election but only one woman called Neamaa Al-Busaedi could won in these elections, so she was the only representative of Omani women in the Shura Council.

In 2017, the media reports revealed that the women obtained seven seats out of a total of 202 seats in the Omani municipal election.

In 2019, Women won 14 seats out of a total of 70 seats in the State Council, and seven women out of 55 members in the Shura Council.

In mid-2019, women called for the adoption of a women's quota system in Oman, and they demanded more women’s participation in councils to discuss women's issues, many obstacles occurred, and the most important one is the absence of political parties that are prevented by the Sultanate. Parties have an important role in engaging women in political life and increasing their representation rate. 

 Qatar; Social and cultural heritage stands as an obstacle for women

In 1998, Qatari women participated in the municipal elections with a rate of (47%), by the initiative of the Prince Hamad bin Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Muhammad Al Thani.

 In 1999, Qatar started to enhance the status of Qatari women in the political field through a number of initiatives taken in the past few years to enable women to play their role in the various parliamentary and political fields.

Women participation in the municipal council elections on March 8, 1999, was the first popular elections in Qatar’s history. Moza Al-Maliki run for the municipal elections and became the first woman in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

 In 2003, in Central Municipal Council elections, Sheikha Yusef Hassan Al-Jufairi was appointed to the Ministers Council.

In comparison, we find out that the participation of women in the democratic experience raised the percentage of female voters slightly in 2007 than in 1999. The percentage of women’s representation clearly decreased in the second-round elections to 27% despite entering the Central Council for the first time, and in the third session in 2007, the percentage of female voters increased the total number of female voters to reach 51.8%.

Recently, the membership of the Qatari Shura Council was renewed with the appointment of 28 new members, including four women, so the percentage of women’s representation in decision-making positions reaches to 30%. Qatar National Vision 2030 aims to increase the percentage of political representation for Qatari women.

 Yemen: Shame experiences

 Yemen, in both its southern and northern parts was one of the first countries in the Arabian Peninsula that women were represented in parliament.

The participation of women declined during the 2001 elections, the number of successful women was 18 out of 35 female candidates.

In the 2003 parliamentary elections, one woman out of a total of 11 female candidates won the elections.

2006 was the worst in the life of Yemeni women, as they were marginalized in the presidential and local elections. According to the report of the European Mission to Monitor the Presidential and Local Elections for 2006, Yemeni women were comprehensively excluded from elections that took place in 2006.

In 2008, President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to grant women a percentage (15%) of the female quota in parliament, but parties and religious and tribal forces refused that, so women’s participation was 1% in parliament, and they announced that "the place of women is home".

After the overthrow of the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh during the revolution that broke out on February 11, 2011, Republican Decree No. 204 was issued in 2014, and a new Yemeni government was formed, and Yemeni women won four seats in the constitution drafting committee consisting of 17 members.

In 2015, the participation of women in the political process decreased, but the rate of Yemeni women's participation in the National Dialogue Conference and the political process increased during the transitional period that followed the revolution of change, the decisions of the conference was that the percentage of women's participation in various institutions should not be less than 30% but the religious parties rejected that decision.

 Saudi Arabia: Last Arab country to grant women the right to vote and run for elections

Saudi Arabia is the last Arab countries that granted women the right to vote and run for elections, as no Saudi women held a ministerial position for decades, except when they obtained the right to vote and run for the municipal elections in 2018.

Saudi women demanded to obtain their political rights in the 1990s. In 2011, a royal decree was issued and the decree said, “Women can participate in the municipal elections.”

In 2013, 30 women entered the Shura Council by the rate of 20%, but religious scholars in the Kingdom refused to say women’s participation contradicts Islamic law in their view.

In December 2015, Saudi women won almost 14 seats in the municipal elections.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia ranked second with (19.9%) in the percentage of women’s representation in parliament. Although Saudi women were allowed to run for municipal council elections, their candidacy was symbolic because the electoral game caused intellectual conflicts between supporters of the liberal focusing on social demands, women's rights, and others, and the conservative not accepting any democratic changes in the Kingdom.

The sociologist Asaad Sanadi talked about the summary of the 2016 Saudi municipal elections and said that women’s rights have declined in Saudi Arabia, because the Saudi Arabia government stopped the feminist march.