Victory of any female contestant in the Sharjah Consultative Council (SCC) elections will be a victory of each and every woman in the emirate feel the women who are contesting the elections.

The female candidates are very upbeat and optimistic about their victory in the polls and believe it's the women who actually support women. They said most of the women voters cast their votes for women candidates as they feel they are the ones who will make developmental changes in the society in favour of women.

All the women candidates Khaleej Times spoke to had one thing to say: "Victory for one or two women is victory for all the women in Sharjah."

Overall their election programme focuses on education women empowerment in the urban and rural areas and social and economic development in supporting women empowerment.

The female candidates while anticipating success said they would be eager to raise and discuss important issues in the council and bring about changes which would contribute to the development process in the emirate.

Gulaizam Al Rakkad a female candidate said that the atmosphere makes her feel optimistic as all 43 female candidates support each other. A win by any one of us is victory for every woman in Sharjah and we have great confidence that any female winner would highlight the issues of women children and all other social issues.

"As we agreed in our meeting those who don't win the election would be in continuous communication with female representatives and support them in contributing to development in all the fields to achieve the goal of the best city in the world."

Eman Abdullah Al Hamadi another candidate said that most of the women candidates included the same issues in their programmes such as development of education women empowerment and family affairs so that whoever win among us will be representing all women in Sharjah.

His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi Member of the Supreme Council and the Ruler of Sharjah has supported women participation in all fields. He is always keen to maintain woman positions in decision and policy making.

Asma Al Zarouni another candidate said she is pleased to see a large number of women candidates in the fray and is happy that women support women because whoever wins will represent women and will carry the burden of women issues and will meet all women's and family needs. "It is a great experience to participate in the election and I hope that I will win. It will allow me to contribute to the development of my beloved emirate of Sharjah... serve its people in a better way and achieve our goal to make the emirate one of the top advanced cities in the world."

Maha Al Serkal who voted for a woman candidate said: "Women who entered the Federal National Council or Sharjah Consultative Council contributed to changing pessimistic attitudes toward women's abilities proving that they can carry responsibilities and burdens and contribute a great deal in social and economic development in the emirate."

"There are a lot of men who also voted for women candidates and in these elections it provides another indicator that women's participation was important" she added.

Afkar Abdullah