CAPE TOWN — The explosion took place only a kilometer away from the beauty contest on a Sunday evening in a restaurant. At least five people died in the attack in mid-July. The suspects, as is usually the case with this kind of incident in Somalia, are the Islamist group al-Shabaab, which has been terrorizing the East African country for decades now.
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As the ambulances drove by the hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, where the beauty contest was being held, and the terrible news spread among the competitors, organizer Hani Abdi Gas had to make a decision. Should the contest go on? Or should she cancel?
Gas decided to continue.
A controversial contest
“Attacks usually take place during the day, when there are more people on the streets,” says Gas, 29, over the phone. “This time it was in the evening. It’s clear that they wanted to send me a message.” But she refuses to be cowed.
Gas founded the contest four years ago. A former winner of a beauty contest for the Somali diaspora in Kenya, she wants to make it possible for other young women to take part in international beauty contests, and to represent her home country’s diverse culture abroad.
Some men still think the high-necked clothes are too tight.
For that to happen, they need this competition, which is too controversial to attract sponsors and is therefore funded by charging those who call in to vote by phone.
The competition has not only come up against opposition from al-Shabaab, but also from conservative men in the country. In accordance with widespread Islamic custom, the competitors take to the stage with their hair covered, says Gas. But some men still think the high-necked clothes are too tight, and object to the fact that many of the women leave their necks uncovered.
Gas has learned to ignore these kinds of comments from men. As more and more women in Somalia are starting to do.
Setting something in motion
The United Nations ranks Somalia among the five worst countries in the world in terms of gender inequality. Less than 5% of women complete secondary education, and not even a quarter of women have a job. Recently, however, there have been signs that things are changing in the country, which has long been synonymous with a failed state. Following a change to the constitution, a third of the seats in parliament are now reserved for women.
Women are pushing for greater participation. That can be seen in many areas; for example, on the construction sites in the Mogadishu, popular with Turkish and Arab investors, there are female engineers. And there is increased pressure to improve women’s rights across society. Early this year, hundreds of people protested after the brutal murders of three women, who were all killed by their husbands within a week.
It is not only the taboo about femicide that is being broken in Somalia.
At the time, activist Maryam Taqal Huseina told British newspaper The Guardian that the protests would not stop until they got justice. She said that women in Somalia are expected to stay silent, but they would keep on making noise until they achieved change.
Too often crimes against women end up with no punishment for the perpetrators – or even with punishment for the victims. A few years ago, a woman in Mogadishu was sentenced to prison after she spoke up about being raped by members of the security forces.
It is not only the taboo about femicide that is being broken in Somalia. On YouTube, female activists are speaking more openly against the widespread practice of female genital mutilation, the scandalously high maternal mortality rate or the fact that a third of women are still getting married before their 18th birthday.
Important victories
Their voices are being heard more and more clearly, partly thanks to a media called Bilan, which is made up of six female journalists. The publication, founded two years ago, is currently mainly funded by the EU; it is the first in the country that is run entirely by women. They are breaking into a male-dominated industry: journalism.
We spoke over the phone with editor-in-chief Hinda Abdi Mohamoud. The 28-year-old grew up in the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland, which is generally considered safer than Somalia. She studied journalism and published her first book, about the history of her people, at the age of 20.
“My parents have always supported me, but some of my uncles didn’t like it,” Mohamoud said. “They thought that women shouldn’t be in the public sphere.” She ignored them, because she saw no religious basis for their concerns: “These barriers come from our culture, nothing else.”
The Bilan reporters quickly made a name for themselves as tough, dogged journalists.
She found more obstacles when she moved to Mogadishu three years ago. There were hardly any female journalists there, and certainly none “around the tables where the decisions are being made,” Mohamoud said. In the media, there was a lot of reporting about politics and terrorism, but not enough about the humanitarian impact on normal people. “We try to look behind the news stories” — with a specific focus on the situation of women. But that’s not all.
In Somalia, the Bilan reporters quickly made a name for themselves as tough, dogged journalists. They are currently planning a trip to an area that the army recently liberated from al-Shabaab — despite significant security risks. The women are aware of the dangers of pursuing their chosen career. Since 2010, 50 journalists have been killed in Somalia, more than in any other African country. And Mohamoud said that Bilan has also been the target of threats.
A freelance colleague from the south of Somalia received a call from an al-Shabaab fighter, the terrorists who control parts of the region. He threatened that she would be killed if she didn’t stop. Shortly afterwards, the terrorists set off a bomb in a restaurant where her mother worked. By some miracle, there were no fatalities.
This colleague refused to be intimidated and still works for Bilan. Mohamoud is proud of her. “She has kept on working — and she is absolutely brilliant.” Her words sound triumphant, like a proclamation of victory. A small victory, perhaps, but an important one.
