Report on the Gender Mission on the Tunisian Constituent Assembly Elections: 23 October 2011 1- Why a gender focus on the elections? What is the added value? The objective of this mission was to introduce a gender approach into the observation of the elections. The purpose of introducing this approach was to document and denounce any inequalities and discrimination against women during the electoral process that could represent an obstacle to their full political participation and their contribution to the elaboration of a new constitution. 2 - The context of the observation mission Tunisian womenhave demonstrated their commitment to democracy and citizenship by participating actively in the January 14 th revolution, in supporting the electoral process by registering to vote, by presenting lists marked by parity, and finally by voting in massive numbers. Since the revolution women have been active participants in the democratic transition whether in institutions created to have this effect or through legislation that has been adopted. Thanks to women s activism, feminist NGOs and democratic men, gender parity was reinforced by the use of so-called zippered lists alternating between women and men, which was adopted in a decree related to the constituent assembly elections. But according to ISIE, and as the facts show, only 7% of the heads of lists were women. This percentage varied from 3% among the independent lists to 7% on the party lists, and went as high as 35% on the lists put forward by coalitions. 3. The partners: GCI, LTDH, ATFD, AFTURD This is the context within which our gender observation mission took place, through a partnership between both Tunisian human rights NGOs and feminist NGOS (LTDH, ATFD, AFTURD) who have had activist experience since the 1990s, and Gender Concerns International (CGI). GCI is based in the Netherlands and specializes in gender election monitoring missions as well as peace, security and development issues from a gender perspective.
4. The composition and the focus of the mission This unique mission was headed by, led by, organized by and implemented by women. Sabra Bano, Executive Director of Gender Concerns International (GCI), a Dutch gender and development NGO headed the mission. The mission was further composed of 22 young women working closely with 14 senior national women activists and reinforced by 7 international observers and gender experts, totaling 43. The young women were selected by the national organizations and received 10 days of intensive training in election observation with a gender focus. The training was carried out using materials prepared by the group of NGOs, based on an observers guide, and a questionnaire, that were thoroughly tested and further adapted to the gender approach during the session. The team benefited from the experience previously acquired by GCI during a gender observation mission in Pakistan. The observation focused on the five constituencies of Greater Tunis (Tunis 1, Tunis 2, Manouba, Ariana, Ben Arous) and also on Gafsa, Sidi Bouzid, Jendouba, Bizerte, Sfax 1 and Sfax 2. The observation was carried out by groups of 2 or 3 women observers who observed many polling stations to assess the quantitative aspects of female participation but also its qualitative dimensions (atmosphere, attitude of the voters, mixed or separate voting lines, intimidation or influence, priority given to pregnant women, etc.) 5. The environment in voting centers (outside): equal or unequal presence of men/women, youths/older persons, accompanied by men, with children, etc. The security forces: there were sometimes women among the soldiers and police (Chebedda) in front of the polling stations and even in front of the polling stations. The presence of both female and male journalists was not generalized and in rural areas they spoke to men in particular. Women voters came more often than men in groups of women or in family groups, or accompanied by children or older persons. Queues: most often these were sex-segregated with a line for women and a line for men, but this depended on the time and the number of voters present, even if the official
instruction poster for the voting process suggested two lines separated by a barrier. The observers rarely witnessed cases of women who left because of too long of a wait. Priority was given to pregnant women though we did observe certain isolated cases where they were not given priority, where women with children waited like everyone else. Some women also complained about the fact that priority was given were not appropriate and in other cases that where it was appropriate to give such priority, other voters complained about it. Moreover, certain voting centers only gave priority when asked by elderly or handicapped or pregnant women themselves. 6. Voter participation through a gender lens: a. The role of women and of men: massive participation of women and from all age groups. In certain constituencies we observed a greater participation of women at 8h30 in the morning and at 13h30 in the afternoon (in Bizerte for example) than at other times of day b. The social profile of women and men: massive presence of women from all social and professional categories, including the poor, the elderly, youth and middle aged persons. Among these women, there were students, unemployed university graduates, domestic workers and housewives. There were also disabled and ill women who came in wheelchairs and pregnant women including those on the verge of giving birth. Many of these women were present in front of the polling stations even before the opening. This shows their determination to participate in the electoral process. c. The difficulties and obstacles i. The fact that some female voters were accompanied by two or three children made it difficult for them to concentrate on voting. ii. Women who were not registered to vote had difficulties because sometimes the centers that accommodated unregistered voters were far from their homes. iii. With regard to the accompaniment of female voters who could not read (1/3 of Tunisian women are illiterate), all the observers noted confusion about how to apply the decisions of ISIE. Some presidents in voting centers accepted the accompaniment of these voters while other refused, which deprived certain women of their right to vote and risked increasing the number of blank or unacceptable ballots. This could be one explanation for the result in the village of Fernana (constituency of Jendouba) where 71 ballots out of 227 were declared inadmissible
(representing nearly 1/3 of the total voters!!!) because they were blank or marked in more than one place. d. Family voting: Women voted individually for the most part, but the impact of family and tribal voting is not to be excluded. e.attitudes with regard to women wearing the niqab: some rare cases of women wearing the niqab were reported in the queues in front of polling stations, inside polling centers. They removed their niqabs in the presence of female election workers. f. Irregularities Observed: i. The observers noted that a woman voter stayed inside the voting center after voting, and wrote the number 52 the number of Ennahda list in this area - on the hands of some other women voters. An IRIE member in Manouba who was present did not take the necessary measures to stop this. ii. Sometimes the voting centers were not attentive to certain rules such as leaving your cellphone at the voting desk because it is forbidden to take it with you into the voting booths. ballot. iii. The proximity of the voting booths did not always guarantee the secrecy of the 7. Female and Male Observers a. Numbers: a maximum of one-third of observers were women. Among the observers from political parties, men were predominant. In civil society, especially in the LTDH, there were more women. b. Perceptions, behavior, and pressure exerted on women: i. We did not observe discriminatory attitudes toward women voters anywhere, except in certain exceptional cases (i.e. verbal aggression outside one polling station by a man) ii. There was respect for special needs even if some voters were reticent to allow preferential treatment even where specified by law. C. The behavior of female observers during the counting of ballots:
Some observed that this took place in the presence of other national and international observers. They noted that women observers stayed until the end of counting, except in the cases where the male president of the polling station advised them to leave for security reasons. 8. Conclusions and Recommendations of the Gender Monitoring Mission with regard to October 23: a. We noted general satisfaction and, indeed, euphoria among the female observers. b. Conviction and rigorous methodology were displayed throughout the observation. c. Women observers were well-received, even where male observers greatly outnumbered them. In certain polling stations, they had to wait for seats to become available. In other stations they were alone. d. The members of voting bureaus appreciated the presence of female observers because it would confirm the transparency of the vote. e. We noted with happiness the massive participation of women from all social categories. However, we would like to draw attention to the following issues: i. Among illiterate women many were deprived of their right to vote by not having the possibility of being appropriately assisted by impartial officials during this operation. ii. The poorest un-registered women voters who were frustrated by not finding their names on electoral lists, after having waited a long time in a polling station, were not necessarily able to travel to other stations to vote. iii. it is difficult to evaluate if certain women were able to make a free, individual choice or if they voted according to family pressure. 9. Positive Outcomes from the Mission: a. The experience was very positive for all of us. For GCI, this was an opportunities to work closely with all the national partners from Tunisian civil society. b. For the national partners themselves, it was an opportunity to develop further their gender election observation skills and to benefit from international expertise.
c. The female observers received gender training and developed a greater understanding of the political landscape. They experienced the enthusiasm of female and male voters and their determination to ensure that democracy succeeds in this country. d. The mission contributed to greater transparency of the elections, and more inclusive and egalitarian democracy. Report written by : Dorra Mahfoudh Draoui and Hafidha Chékir (LTDH, ATFD, AFTURD) Magdalena de Meyer (GCI) With the valuable support of Karima Bennoune (GCI)