Syria elects first female parliament speaker
A woman has for the first time been chosen as parliament speaker in Syria at the first ordinary round of the country’s new legislative term.
People’s Assembly of Syria held its first session on Monday after the April 13 parliamentary vote and elected Hadiyeh al-Abbas as the first female speaker in history of the Arab country’s legislature, marking a historic event in the war-stricken country.
The female politician, 58, holds a PhD in agricultural engineering from Aleppo University. She held positions at the National Union of Syrian Students (Dayr al-Zawr-Raqqah branch) and she was a member of leadership of Dayr al-Zawr branch of al-Ba’ath Arab Socialist Party (1988-1998).
She was elected as a member of the People’s Assembly of the eighth legislative term (2003-2007) and has been a member of the Assembly’s National Reconciliation Committee representing Dayr al-Zawr.
The Syrian Arab Republic granted women’s suffrage in 1953, a mere 7 years after liberating itself from French Mandate occupation. Compare this to the United States, which freed itself from English tyranny in 1776, and yet did not give women the right to vote, for another 144 years, in 1920…. http://www.syrianews.cc/syrian-parliament-elects-first-woman-speaker/