INTERNATIONAl:. Madison Native Founds Program That Helps Mideast Women Get Involved in Politics

In a region of the world where religion and government are still tightly tied, one Madison native has found a way to empower a population with a growing, but still comparatively quiet, political voice.

“Bringing more women to elected office is a way to start to diffuse power — power that right now is in the hands of a small minority of men in the Middle East,” says Katie Croake, a 1992 graduate of West High and a 2003 graduate of UW-Madison's La Follette School of Public Affairs. “When these new voices (of women) are heard, you really start to change the culture.”To that end, Croake started the Young Women Leaders Academy Program, which aims to empower women to become involved in politics and democracy. Begun three years ago, the program operates under the National Democratic Institute, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit dedicated to strengthening democratic institutions worldwide.Croake first experienced life in the Middle East after graduating from college and spending three years teaching social studies to middle- and high-school students in Beirut, Lebanon.During her stay, she fell in love with the country and the region as a whole, she says. In one of many parts of the region prone to making headlines only during times of war, Croake saw opportunities for change. Women's struggle for equality and a seat at the table was a struggle still familiar to the women she knew at home. With a belief that both groups could learn from each other, Croake brought 22 Mideast women from her program to Madison to meet a host of women involved in Wisconsin politics. Their stay included a trip to the State Democratic Convention, workshops on blogging and public relations, a tour of Chicago that included a stop at the Muslim-American International Festival, and visits with Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and first lady Jessica Doyle.This immersion in democracy and politics ends this week when the women return home to their countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen and Morocco, among others, to apply the skills they've learned to political campaigns, or to support or begin organizations that push for women's rights.Sally El Baz of Egypt already has seen positive changes in her lifetime.

The 27-year-old is a member of Egypt's Reform and Development Party. Begun a few years ago, the party distinguishes itself from other political parties in her country by actively working to bring more women and young people into politics. “Young people are very interested in this,” she says. “They just want you to show them the way.”Sitting on the steps of the Capitol on a recent afternoon, El Baz is matter-of-fact about the opportunities her mother had only a generation ago. “There was no participation of women,” she says.For El Baz and other Egyptian women, Croake's program couldn't have come at a better time. For the first time this fall, elections in Egypt will require a certain quota of women to be elected to office, following the example of other countries with quota systems in place, including Morocco, Jordan and India.While critics say the practice can lead to female proxy voting for men, proponents say it is a necessary step toward guaranteeing women have a voice in the region's politics.“It is a tool being used in the Middle East to give women more opportunities to get involved,” Croake says.Wisconsin women from various walks of political life met with El Baz and other program participants at the state Capitol last week for a group discussion on women in politics, including reasons for low female representation at the Capitol and the lingering pay disparity between men and women.The ratio of women to men serving in elected office in Wisconsin is 29 to 132, or around 22 percent. On the national level, it is 90 to 535, or around 17 percent.Rep.

Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, was among the Wisconsin leaders who attended the forum. Roys says the percentage of women serving in the Capitol, the lowest percent in 20 years, is rarely mentioned as a problem in need of fixing. But a concept like a quota system, she adds, is not a political reality.“There is a joyful ignorance when it comes to talking about race and gender equality,” says Roys. “We're so far off we're not even having the right conversation. We're still arguing about whether birth control should be available on college campuses.”The irony that quotas are in place in some Middle East countries but not here, despite low female-participation rates in elected office, was not lost on many of the participants.Says Heather Colburn, an expert on women's political participation, and a campaign services director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee currently working on Sen. Russ Feingold's re-election campaign: “It is hard to solve a problem that no one thinks is a problem.”Many of the women from the Middle East acknowledge their rights aren't on par with those of women in many other countries but say it will take time for young democracies, if they exist at all, to mature.“Democracies don't just come (about) in a day,” says Chantal Souaid, 22, who is from Lebanon. “They take hundreds of years,” she adds, noting that Lebanon became independent in 1943.Of course, the U.S., an independent democracy since 1776, still has lopsided female representation.“The challenges women face here are similar,” Croake says. “

Politics is a male-dominated field.”Still, program participants remained optimistic that they could make a difference.Batool Al-Khalaf, a 24-year-old from Saudi Arabia, says one of the reasons she applied to the program was to show people in America that there are ambitious, successful women in her country. “In the U.S. there is a misconception that we are really oppressed, but that really is the wrong idea,” she says. “We do have our share of problems, but we are making baby steps (toward change).”Souaid says her efforts today will benefit future generations, reason enough for her to push for greater change in her homeland. “When my children are born, it will be so easy,” Souaid says. “They will have more examples, more support.”