Somali women struggle to make it in politics

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Somali women struggle to make it in politics

Al Jazeera, 11 Jun 2014

URL: http://goo.gl/vnXwIQ
"I get threats, day in, day out," says Fawzia Yusuf Adam. "Yes, it happens, but I am not afraid about what might happen tomorrow. I am busy with today."

Adam is one of Somalia's most senior female politicians. A former diplomat and long-time women's rights activist, she became the country's first ever female foreign minister and deputy prime minister in 2012. No longer in that post, she is now one of a small number of female members of parliament.

The threats she laughs off come from al-Shabab, the hardline rebel group. It has a two-fold vendetta against female politicians: It is waging war against all members of the Somali government, and its extreme reading of Islam prohibits any female participation in the public sphere.