Cameroon Urges Women to Vote

Community groups, political parties and the government in Cameroon have been appealing to women to vote in elections on Sunday. They are telling the women not to fear threats made by separatist groups. The separatists claim they will stop the local and parliamentary elections.

Female candidates and women who campaigned for other candidates fear their efforts may lead to nothing at all if women do not come out to vote.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations and government ministries¹ joined political parties at campaign events in the capital city, Yaounde. They say they did this as part of a special campaign for women to perform their civic² duties.

Alvine Yinda is a candidate of the Cameroon People Democratic Movement. She told VOA she likes the appeal to women because if they fail to vote on Election Day, men hold an unfair advantage.

Yinda said that her party's female candidates decided³ to urge all women who are registered to come out to vote on February 9. She says they are working with all the political parties to make sure women take part in the decision-making process.

Mumah Bih Yvonne is national coordinator⁴ of the non-governmental organization Cameroon Women's Peace Movement. She says its goal is for women to support lists that have a majority of female candidates.

"Women have a different way of looking at governance. But if we are not there to influence policies, how do we get that level playing ground that we (women) are looking for," she asked.

Women historically underrepresented

The president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, called the elections last November. Before then, groups of women led by the NGO More Women in Politics visited towns and villages asking women to compete for political office.

Traditionally, many women do not vote because their husband or their communities limit their participation⁵. Some women fail to vote because they are unable to read or write.

This year, some observers fear the number of female voters will decrease because of a separatist conflict in Cameroon's Northwest and Southwest. Armed groups are fighting to separate English-speaking areas from the French-speaking majority country. At least 3,000 have died in the fighting.

Most voters in the Northwest and Southwest have moved to safer areas. The election commission says it has taken special measures to make sure they can vote on Sunday.

Within the past week, two political parties reported that the separatists attacked four campaign teams and kidnapped at least 20 people.

More than 40 percent of Cameroon's nearly nine million voters are female. Women make up about 52 percent of the population.

But just 31 percent of the 180 lawmakers at the National Assembly and 21 percent of the senators are women.

I'm Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

civic – adj. relating to citizenship⁶ or being a citizen

advantage – n. a gain or lead that puts one in a better position

coordinator – n. one who organizes events and people

participation – n. the action of taking part in something

1 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

2 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

5 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。