Meet two of the women running for president in male-dominated Ivory Coast
Despite the male-dominated political landscape in Ivory Coast, a handful of women intend to stand for president in the October election. Among them are Marie Carine Bladi and Danièle Boni Claverie, who offer a study in contrasts: one is a relative newcomer, a beauty queen making waves, while the other is a seasoned politician.
Politics in the Ivory Coast is a largely masculine affair. The ballot for October’s presidential election is dominated by three veteran male politicians: 78-year-old President Alassane Ouattara, 86-year-old former president Henri Konan Bédié and 67-year-old former premier Pascal Affi N’Guessan.
But Article 36 of the new constitution, introduced at the end of 2016, says the state must seek “the promotion of political rights for women by increasing their representation in elected assemblies”.
While a new law introduced in 2019 stipulates that at least 30 percent of candidates fielded by parties for parliamentary and regional elections must be women, there is still a long way to go.
“Who is in power? Who governs?” asks Rachel Gogoua, president of the Group of Female Organisations for Gender Equality (GOFEHF), which lobbied for the quota. “The president is a man. The prime minister is a man. The minister of finance, the president of the National Assembly, the president of the Independent Electoral Commission: They are all men.”