ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the focus lies on women within Guinea’s institutional political sphere. The first section provides an overview on women’s increase in institutional politics on the continental level. Then, it highlights women’s involvement in Guinean national politics. It further zooms in on Rabiatou Sèrah Diallo, a trade unionist and the president of the Legislative National Transitional Council between 2010 and 2014. In the second section, the chapter analyses women in the local political sphere by introducing two women who had highly visible posts. Then, it depicts ordinary female members of local party branches in Kankan. On the basis of these examples, this chapter elaborates more broadly on women’s role within (local) political parties. It concludes by describing the ambivalent image of female Guinean politicians in local and national politics. Overall, this chapter argues that women’s claim making within Guinea’s institutional politics is rather limited. Politics remains to be defined as a male domain. Within the sphere of party politics, except for well-educated women who hold important positions, women are thus not to express their ideas, make propositions, or raise new issues to discuss.
