Female Algerian MPs Label Policy “Discriminatory”

Female members of Algeria’s parliament have criticized a law adopted that reverses an initial bill to vastly improve female representation. The original bill, which was part of a series of reforms promised by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, proposed electoral list quotas for women of 30 percent. The amended bill requires the number of female MPs will be directly proportional to the number of seats in each constituency, with 20 percent of seats reserved for women in constituencies that have four seats, 30 percent for constituencies with five seats, 35 percent for those with 14 seats or more and 40 percent for constituencies with more than 32 seats. ”This law is nationally and sexually discriminatory towards women,” female MP Amina Gharbi Bounab, who is one of the 30 female MPs out of a total 389.