She urged Qatari women to start “voicing what they believe in” and vote for strong women candidates in future. Jasim, like fellow female candidates, said she had encountered some men who thought women should not run. I see myself as fit as a man … If you want to see me as weak, that’s up to you, but I am not weak,” she said in the polling station where men and women had separate entrances. Several female candidates had been seeking to improve the integration into Qatari society of children of female citizens married to foreigners who, like in other Gulf states, cannot pass their Qatari nationality to their children. Male candidate Sabaan Al Jassim, 65, supports women standing in elections but said their primary role remains in the family.

Source: Egypt Independent October 03, 2021 04:52 UTC