“Which of you lives in the Schilderswijk?”, Moderator Fonda Sahla asks a full room in the Jacobahof community center in The Hague. Sandwiches cheese cross the table by volunteers. Four people stand their hand doubtingly. “Is there translated for that lady?” Asks Sahla, pointing to a woman with a headscarf who is just coming into the room.
An election meeting for ‘Haagse Vrouwen’ was organized in the Schilderswijk on Wednesday morning. The goal: to motivate residents of the neighborhood, especially women, to vote. The vast majority of the public in the community center consists of invited party members, the organization itself, plus volunteers from the community center. Only a handful of women from the neighborhood itself came to the event.
Low turnout
That low turnout reflects exactly the problem for which the meeting is intended: many people from the Schilderswijk voted in the Lower House elections of 2023. Nationally, 78 percent showed up, 50 percent in the Schilderswijk. “Women in particular did not vote here,” says organizer Astrid Plugge of the Schilderswijk Resident tours Foundation. “That we allow that in some neighborhoods the turnout is so low that our democracy is not functioning properly. We have to do more to involve those people.”
According to Plugge, women in the neighborhood are either never joined politics or dropped out in the meantime. Money problems, children who cannot find a house, and discrimination are themes that play here, according to Plugge. And there is a feeling that politics is not there for these residents.
Participant Emiline Isik (58) from the Schilderswijk confirms this. She has been voting since she was eighteen, she says. Via the Jeugdjournaal, De Wijkkrant and the Public Library, she tries to inform herself politically. According to Isik, many women think that voices make no sense because politicians do not care about them. “I think so every time I am going to vote, but I go anyway”.
The ProDemos organization kicks off the meeting on Wednesday with a quick explanation of the election process and the operation of the parliament. What should you take with you when you vote? What does the ballot look like? What if you make a mistake when ticking?
Wilders!
Then a number of playful questions follow to the public: “Do you have to have done VWO to be allowed in politics?” “No!” It sounds mainly from the corner where the party members are. “Who is the longest -sitting MP?” “Wilders!” Brugge itself before others have the chance to answer.
“Very handy, I never had this at school,” says Imane El Haddouchi (19), who will vote for the first time in four weeks. She is doing an internship at the municipal neighborhood team of the Schilderswijk and was taken to the meeting by her internship supervisor Yosra Saïdi (22).
According to Saaïdi, the language is a major obstacle for many women with a migration background. Saaïdi lives in the Ypenburg district and votes for the third time in her life. “I think politically very important. If my friends or family do not vote, I will talk to them and vote for them.”
As a citizen you are not taken enough in politics, she thinks. “I think more personal contact with politicians, as can really make a difference here today.”
Residents and politicians during the election event for women of ProDemos in the Jacobahof community center in the Schilderswijk in The Hague.
Photo Bart Maat
Political speed dates
Then it’s time for the ‘political speed dates’. In a pitch of one minute, members of eleven political parties introduce themselves to the few participants. Then the politicians at the table with the women from the neighborhood to talk about a number of positions. It is about living, livelihood and the position of women. Cups fresh fruit salad and scales msmen with honey go around in the room.
Organizer Astrid Plugge emphasizes that all parties were invited, but that “in particular the right side of politics” did not respond to the invitation. 50PLUS and the VVD canceled at the last minute. Representatives from, among others, the Pirate Party, Volt, CDA, BIJ, SP and the ChristenUnie all state that the voices from the Schilderswijk are just as important as those of others.
Esmah Lahlah (GL-PvdA) draws a parallel between her own youth in Helmond and the unequal opportunities that children get in the Schilderswijk. Elif Esen (DENK) wants the hard -working women from the Schilderwijk to be heard and be able to do some shopping for their families. In the Lower House elections in 2023, her party DENK was by far the largest in the district of The Hague by 52 percent. Two weeks ago DENK started a large door-to-door campaign in the city districts center, Escamp and Laak.
At the end, the participants make an appointment via a QR code to vote on 29 October, and to share a photo of it with each other.
Neighborhood volunteer Fatima Abdelghani (50) came from Morocco to the Netherlands in 2001. In 2024 she received Dutch nationality and now she can vote for the first time. “I am very happy that I can finally. We are talking about politics at home, but I could never really participate,” she says. She mainly gets information about politics through her family, they will all vote the same. “A safe Netherlands, without discrimination, is important to me. A person is a human.”
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