Gender equality and the empowerment of women are an integral part of the MDGs, and, at the same time, women who are essential actors should be taken into account as actors, but also, as targets, with a view to the achievement of said Objectives. In addition, women constitute 53% of the Malian population. Everyone now agrees that this segment of the population should be better represented in the decision-making process.

The Beijing Plan of Action called for women to hold a « critical mass » of 30% of parliamentary seats, the level deemed sufficient to bring about change in national political processes. In Mali, in 2009, the National Assembly had 10% women.

In 2015, the Government had the National Assembly adopt Law No. 2015-052 of December 18, 2015 to promote better representation of women in nominative and elective bodies. This sets at 30% the representation of one or the other sex in registered positions; the same applies to the lists of candidatures presented by political parties; neither of the sexes can constitute more than 70% of the candidates. It is also stipulated the application of the alternation of the sexes; after two candidates of the same sex the third will be of the opposite sex.

Situation at the level of nominative positions

With the help of the quota law, women have made a little more breakthrough in public life. The situation made by the CNDIFE in 2014-2015 reveals a better

representation of women in several institutions: Prime Minister (14% in 2015 against 13.3% in 2014), National Assembly (13.9% in 2015 against 13.5% in 2014), Supreme Court (30.2%) in 2015 against 29.1% in 2014), High Council of Territorial Communities (9.1% in 2015 against 7.3% in 2014, Economic, Social and Cultural Council (18.2% in 2015 against 15.3% in 2014) .

At the government level, the number of women ministers increased from five (05) out of 31 in 2014, or 16%, to eight (08) women out of 35 in 2017, or 23%. In addition to the social sectors that were traditionally entrusted to them, women are entrusted with technical sectors such as Economy and Finance (2014), Equipment and Access (2017), Livestock and Fisheries (2017), Work and the Public Service (2017), Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development (2017), Spatial Planning and Population (2017), Higher Education (2017).

Situation in elective positions

The representation of women is below that of men. The observation is to be made first at the level of the candidacy. In the 2013 presidential election, out of 28 candidates, only one woman was a candidate; in the legislative elections of 2013, there were 156 candidates out of 1,107 (14%).

Regarding access to positions of responsibility, the situation is also unequal to the detriment of women, who are a large minority even though there has been overall progress over the period 2007-2016. At the level of the National Assembly, the 2014-2020 legislature includes 14 women deputies out of 147 against 15 in that of 2007; for the 2016 municipal elections, there were 2,866 municipal councilors (27%) against 927 out of 10,772 in those of 2009 (9%). There were eleven (11) women mayors out of 701 during the 2016 municipal elections (1.6%) compared to nine (09) women mayors out of 703 in 2009 (1.3%).

Today, it is a question of accelerating the process of integrating Malian women into the decision-making systems of local communities. The task is immense, but when we look at the advances in the representation of women in local communities and the constraints they face, we can say that there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Through combined efforts to promote female leadership, women will now have a say and will be equipped to influence local governance.

Female leadership in local communities enables women to mobilize support for community development projects that address the practical needs of local populations and disadvantaged groups. Women, through their participatory leadership style, have a strong ability to reach a larger audience and apply best practices and innovations to local governance.

In addition, the participation of some women in local governance has a mobilizing leverage effect on other women for the management of public affairs and for meeting the challenge of leadership.

Despite the increase in the quantitative representation of women in local communities, their influence in the decision-making process remains limited. Of course, women can voice their grievances during deliberative sessions, but it is clear that they are not yet effective enough to influence, initiate and reorient gender policy and resource allocations.

REMAFEDE proposes, on the one hand, to support women who have already been elected in the exercise of their role and, on the other, to develop actions aimed at arousing women’s interest in public affairs.

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