SNC: Syrian National Council

SNC Dept: Female delegates at the SNC convention under way in Qatar some rushing toward the podium in protest after the results were announced early Thursday say the new leadership fails to reflect the key role of women in the push to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to Montreal Gazette. "The bottom line is that there is a recognition that the women got shafted, and that it has to be fixed," said delegate Muna Jondy, 37, an immigration lawyer from Flint, Michigan. Still, she said, it's "not going to cure the underlying problem, which I think was the lack of recognition of the importance of the voice of women at the decision-making table." DOHA, Qatar - The leadership of Syria's main opposition bloc in exile, the Syrian National Council, is an all-male affair after elections failed to promote a single woman to a decision-making group of 41. It also falls short of the SNC's attempt to showcase a new diversity at a time when the group faces intense criticism from the international community and Syrian activists for not being representative enough. After the vote in Doha, the SNC tried to redress the lack of women in its new leadership, with one spokesman saying women would be added to the 41-member general secretariat by decree. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.