Women’s Political Participation

cases are often prolonged – it is not unusual for a case on child support to last between one and three years.56 In a context marked by the rise of militant Islam, many religious leaders and conservatives vehemently oppose the inclusion of women in positions of power within the justice system, which could upset the status quo of exclusively male access to the highest positions of the judicial and law enforcement branches of government.57 As of 2016, the Judiciary Commission in Somaliland still had not appointed a single female judge.58 The lack of female representation in the Somaliland justice system combined with the dearth of gender-responsive protocols, policies, and operating procedures present further obstacles to women’s access to justice, particularly when they have been subjected to sexual or gender-based violence (SGBV). Survivors often suffer severe stigmatization, abuse, and discrimination after family or community members learn about the sexual violence they have experienced.59 Thus, procedures such as the requirement that all visitors must inform the (typically male) guards at police stations of the nature of their visit before being allowed to enter, serve as powerful impediments to justice for many.60

In the political sphere, women in Somaliland have continuously fought for their participation in parliament and in top-level political decision-making positions, since Somaliland’s first elections. In 2018, the President of Somaliland submitted a 30% quota for the participation of women and minority groups in both houses of parliament. This was one of several amendments to the Electoral and Voter Registration Law. The House did not deliberate on the quota until the 27th of September, at which point the House rejected the quota, ostensibly on grounds that the quota would violate the Somaliland Constitutional provision that all citizens are equal before the law.61 Today, out of the 82 seats in the House of Representatives and an additional 82 seats in the House of Elders, only one seat (in the House of Representatives) is occupied by a woman.62 In the nation’s history, a woman has only occupied a seat in the House of Elders once. Fatuma Jama Illeye assumed office to replace her late husband and resigned not long thereafter to allow her son to take the seat. Had it been implemented, the quota system would have enabled women’s access to parliament in greater numbers. Many Somaliland activists blame the fact that politics in the country are predominantly influenced by clans, which maintain a leadership system that leaves significant power consolidated within the hands of a small, male-only group.

56 Ibid. 57 Ibid. 58 Horizon Institute, 2016 59 Jama, G, 2019 60 Ibid. 61 Somali Dispatch, 2020 62 Somaliland Standard, 2020