Speaker of the Parliament and former President Mohamed Nasheed says that forces working against women's empowerment are gaining ground and that their voices are getting louder.
Touching on the occasion of international women's day celebrated today, Nasheed said at the parliament today that the most saddening aspect of such forces is that they are using religion to defend their rhetoric. He said that some of those behind such sentiments are scholars and have fronted such arguments.
Nasheed promised to deter such thinking and work to better the state of women's rights in this country.
The Speaker also vowed on behalf of the whole parliament to make women more empowered in the Maldivian political arena.
He noted that the political parties play a vital role in welcoming women into the arena and that they should make it easier for women to acquire party tickets for future elections.
Nasheed insisted that this in turn would flourish women's representation in politics.
The former President also said that there 4 women MPs from MDPon the current parliament and that he had noticed that many women had failed to secure an MDP ticket.
He said that women should not back down in their pursuit of representation in the country's politics and that their talent and capability was never in question.
Nasheed also mentioned that he is proud that one-third of the council seats would be filled by women and that the law was amended as such after all the parties gave their support for this cause.
