An Algerian minister has sparked controversy by calling on married women to hand over their salaries to the national treasury, as a solution to the country’s lack of public funds.
Mounia Meslem, the minister for national solidarity, family and women’s affairs, suggested that "women who are married do not need a monthly wage to live, of course, as they live off their husband's salaries."
Apparently, for Algerian women holding high-ranking positions, surrendering their income “[is] the least they could do” in order to help out following a period of low oil prices, which has put pressure on government finances.
She made the comments in response to a question from a reporter from privately-owned channel al-Bilad about the impact of the North African state’s ongoing austerity drive on senior politicians.
The video has been viewed more than 13,500 times, and many have offered their opinions in the comments section.
One person wrote: “Blablabla ... these thieves will not give up a penny of their wages! They continue to plunder the country ... as their parents did and so will their children.”
Another added that: “Instead of letting competent people run the country, they leave it in the hands of its ignorant profaners of bad advice. Such a waste.”
Algerians have also taken to social media to express their outrage at Meslem’s contentious statement:
A meslem mounia qui n a pas comprit qu 1 femme ne peu pas dependre du salaire de son mari qu elle irresponsable
— Isabelle Coadic (@isabellecoadic) December 3, 2016
If Mounia Meslem doesn't understand that a woman cannot depend on the salary of her husband then she is irresponsible
@lemondefr On vit vraiment sur la même planète...?
— Jex (@Jex4Matt) December 3, 2016
Do we really live on the same planet?!
@HuffPostAlgerie rappeler nous votre poste madame ! Honte à vous. Démissionnez de suite.
— Lina dana (@Linadana8) December 4, 2016
Remember your post madame! Shame on you. Resign immediately
The unemployment rate for women in Algeria is double that of men, as societal pressures force many women to perform more traditional home-based roles. As recently as ten years ago, less than 20 per cent of women there were employed. For Algerian women’s activists, then, to hear the politician responsible for promoting women in the country publicly undermining women’s roles as breadwinners is disheartening.
RA
