While a total of 21 women ran in the MDP primaries yesterday, only four women won the party tickets for the Parliamentary election.

Every single previous administration had commenced with the promise that women’s roles in politics will be broadened. However, women government representatives have repeatedly said that that there are several challenges in starting out in politics.

This was clearly seen at the MDP primary elections held yesterday. While 21 women had entered the race with the hopes of winning a party ticket to the Parliamentary elections, only four women won.

The winners of the MDP primaries were current MP of the Addu-Meedhoo constituency Rozaina Adam, Thulhaadhoo constituency hopeful Hisaan Hussain and hopeful for the Hinnavaru constituency seat, Jihaan Mahmood. In addition to that, current MP of Galolhu-North constituency, Eva Abdulla holds the party ticket for that constituency as no other candidate ran for the same ticket.

Therefore, the current number of women with an MDP ticket to Parliament is only four women. This is a relatively low number when considering the number of women that had run for the primaries in the first place.

MP of Addu-Meedhoo constituency and MDP primary winner Rozaina Adam spoke to One Online and noted the narrowing of the path to the political stage for women. Rozaina said that most women did not succeed at the primaries due to a lack of planning.

She said that this is owed to instances such as two women running for the same constituency. She also noted that there is not enough work done to provide various opportunities for women.

The Minister for Gender, Family and Social Services, Shidhatha Shareef had said only last week that there are various challenges in bringing women to the forefront of politics.

The Gender Minister noted that in reality, women face various challenges due to economic disparities and discrepancies in ownership of wealth. She said that there are very few women currently active at a level where major decisions can be taken by them. Shidhatha highlighted that for all of these reasons, women find it more difficult to run in elections.

She noted, that while 50 percent of the population are women, there should be no question whether women need equal opportunity.The Minister also said that beliefs that women belong only in domestic settings such as cleaning or cooking, are still alive and well in this country. She noted that it is time that a major change is brought about to this way of thinking.