General Assembly WOM/1875 - Ministry of Social and Family ...

Delegation’s ResponsesMs. YACOB said the discrepancy in the figures for Parliament resulted from the lossof one woman’s seat in Parliament in the last election, with the loss of a women minister aswell. There was a women’s wing in the ruling party structure, which pursued reforms topolicies affecting women; for example, removing the quota concerning medical students.She stressed that women in Parliament had more impact than their numbers would suggest.On disabilities services in schools, she said there was training for teachers to allowregular schools to admit children with disabilities, as well as well-resourced special schools.On the situation of divorced foreign wives, she said they could apply for special visas; otherimmigration laws were gender neutral and a minimum residential period was applied beforepermanent residency was granted. There were more than 1 million foreign workers in thecountry, which was a huge portion of the population.A delegate from the Foreign Ministry added that divorced spouses retained theirpermanent residency or citizenship gained while they were married, and foreign wivesreceived equal protection under the law. Information had been disseminated about suchissues. Approximately 9 out of 10 applications of foreign spouses for citizenship between2006 and 2010 had been granted.