An unlikely battle in an unlikely place has broken out over a bid to guarantee Mali’s women a seat at the political table in this poor, conflict-ridden and heavily Muslim African country.

If enacted, a proposed law before Malian lawmakers would reserve one-third of government jobs for women, including in elected offices. Currently, only 14 women sit in Mali’s 147-member parliament, three women belong to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s Cabinet of 33 ministers, and men claim the vast bulk of civil service positions.

Activists see the quota idea as a way to jump-start the drive for equal rights between the sexes.

“We no longer want men only to be selected for high-level responsibilities in Mali,” said Djeneba Sy, 50, president of the National Union of Young Women Muslims.

The push for more representation in government is a remarkable development in Mali, where 90 percent of the population is Muslim, and where the former colonial power France intervened just three years ago to defeat an al Qaeda-linked Islamic insurgency in the north.