Women Political Leaders Hit a Glass Ceiling in Mauritania

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

Mauritania is often held up as a beacon when it comes to the proportion of women elected to political office – a 20 percent minimum quota was instituted in 2006 – but experts told IRIN once in power many women are still sidelined from taking important political decisions.

“While the quota is a major step forward, changing the situation of Mauritanian women is still a slow process because their colleagues discourage them from leading on issues,” Aminettou Mint Ely, head of the local non-governmental organisation (NGO) Association of Women (AFCF), told IRIN.

“As a result, many of these women cannot fight to overturn discriminatory laws in the country… such as those barring working women from claiming a pension, or paying elected women less than men for the same posts,” she said. [AllAfrica]

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Another Assault at Noord Street

There’s reportedly been another assault on a woman by taxi drivers at the Noord Street taxi rank in Johannesburg, but this woman wasn’t targeted for wearing a miniskirt, instead she was “talking too much.”

The 23-year-old woman was “allegedly dragged out of a taxi and slapped on the face — because she questioned why she was given her R96.30 change in coins. She had apparently paid her R3.50 fare with a R100 note,” according to The Times.

The suspects, Muzi Madide, 34, and Mtoliki Nkomo, 43, were arrested on Monday and later released without bail. They were charged with common assault and are expected back in court on April 15.

Tshishonga’s assault comes after women were indecently assaulted by being stripped naked for wearing miniskirts by Noord Street Taxi Rank operators.

Nwabisa Ngcukana, 25, was indecently assaulted after her miniskirt was torn by taxi drivers in February.

Taxi organisations and the police promised to arrest the perpetrators after protests by women rights groups but no one has been arrested. [Sowetan]