Asian women face uphill struggle in coming elections

Asian women face uphill struggle in coming elections

Mark McCord, Agence France-Presse, Hong Kong

Female politicians in Asia will remain in the minority when it
comes to wielding real power despite the important role of women
in at least three presidential elections this year, analysts and
observers say.

Presidents Megawati Soekarnoputri of Indonesia and Gloria
Arroyo of the Philippines are both running for the top seats, and
while Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga was not standing
it was she who called Saturday's election following a row with
the prime minister.

According to the United Nations-affiliated Asian Pacific
Women's Information Network Center (APWINC), Asian countries have
returned more female leaders to power in the past 30 years than
any other region in the world.

An Asian-Pacific nation, New Zealand was the first to give
women the vote when the then Legislative Council granted
universal suffrage in September 1893.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a worldwide forum for
parliamentary politics, lists New Zealand as having the highest
proportion of female representatives in the region -- some 28.3
percent of seats in its lower chamber.

But observers say the statistics in Asia hide the fact that
political and cultural prejudices mean women continue to play a
comparatively small decision-making role.

Many female leaders are in power because they have the backing
of big political families and in many cases are the latest
generation of long political dynasties.

Megawati, like Sonia Gandhi, the leader of India's Congress
opposition party, is among a group of leaders that could be
termed the children -- and in Gandhi's case the wives -- of the
revolution.

Megawati's father Sukarno was the first president of Indonesia
following the end of Dutch colonial rule. Gandhi, the Italian-
born wife of slain former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, is the
latest in the line of succession from India's first prime
minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Kumaratunga was almost destined to become leader: her parents
were former prime ministers Sirimavo and SWRD Bandaranaike.

Arroyo, also for instance, who contests national polls on May
10, is the daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, who was president from
1961 to 1965.

She followed her late father into politics in 1995 as a
senator. It is said that of all the presidents who occupied
Malacanang Palace since the end of the Ferdinand Marcos regime,
she is the only one who lives in the same room she occupied when
she was a girl.

In summing up Arroyo's support base, the respected Philippine
Center for Investigative Journalism underlines the problem facing
much of Asia.

"Most (female politicians) are elected because of the
mobilization of family resources and the support of their male
kin," the center said in a discussion paper. "Once in office few
take on women's causes."

India, which goes to the polls on April 20 and May 10, has
comparatively few female leaders, despite high-profile
politicians like outspoken former movie star Jayalalitha Jayaram
hogging headlines.

Indian psephologist and political analyst Yashwant Deshmukh
says female representation is hampered by fundamental prejudices.

"They (women) are not considered winnable candidates," said
Deshmukh. "It's a taboo that goes on. But the things are changing
rapidly."

For decades, Indian politicians have been struggling with
promised legislation to reserve 33 percent of all seats in
parliament and state legislatures for women. The bill has eluded
consensus as many parties oppose it on various grounds.

In the 1999 parliamentary elections, a total of 277 female
candidates contested polls and 47 of them were elected, compared
with 3,977 male contestants of whom 490 were elected to the 544-
member house. The remaining seats are reserved for minority
groups.

After last December's assembly elections, two female
politicians were made chief ministers and today at least four
Indian states are ruled by women.

Deshmukh blamed male politicians for not letting women emerge
from the shadows.

"In all our surveys we have found that the idea of men
opposing women in politics is wrong. They don't have a problem
with women. In fact they feel women are better administrators.
It's the politicians who are not letting them come up," he said.

Although Indonesian women face similar prejudices, in 2003 the
country passed a law opening the way for more female members of
parliament, including a clause that at least 30 percent of
candidates in general elections should be women.

Unfortunately, no party actually has yet met the quota. The
Muslim-oriented Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) did best, meeting
the quota in 94 percent of districts.

Worsening the situation is the opposition of President
Megawati herself. Although she was initially barred from the
presidency partly on the grounds that a woman should not lead the
world's most populous Islamic nation, she criticized the quota
law.

"I do not agree, because such a quota can give rise to the
notion that women can only exist (in politics) because of
charity," she said at the time.

Most of the women involved in Philippine politics come from
the political ruling elite and many take over seats vacated by
their husbands or fathers.

Corazon Aquino, the country's first woman president, was the
wife of assassinated senator Ninoy Aquino.

And senator Loren Legarda, opposition presidential candidate
Fernando Poe's running mate, is a former television broadcaster
who married into a prominent political family.

As a study by the Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism pointed out: "The glass ceiling for women in politics
is obvious in the legislature, even if there are many more women
in the Philippine Congress than there are in other Asian
parliaments.

"Still, even if the Philippines had two women presidents,
women in public office are still in the minority from the
(village) level up. Few women politicians make it on their own."