|
|
|
|
Publications >> Grantee Spotlight
|
|
|
Women’s Political Participation in Jordan Advances with Support from NED Despite a controversial election law, voter apathy, and social and institutional obstacles, Jordanian women’s political participation in the June 17th, 2003 elections increased dramatically since those held in 1997. The increased enthusiasm is in part a response to a new quota system instituted by King Abdullah, which reserves six seats in parliament for those women who garner the highest percentage of votes in their districts. Five NED grantees who provided programs of education, training, and advocacy to ensure women’s preparedness and increased political participation made significant contributions toward this historic electoral outcome. |
 |
|
According to a report by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), while no woman won a seat outside of the quota, the number of women candidates almost tripled from 17 in 1997 to 54, women candidates received 40 percent more votes than in 1997, and for the first time, more women voted than men.
Additionally, media coverage of the women candidates was very impressive, said Roula Attar, Program Officer for the Middle East and North Africa division of NDI. Newspapers published daily supplements featuring women candidates, and TV programs produced special broadcasts, allowing women candidates to discuss issues central to their campaigns. “There were more competent women running, more women voting, and more women taking a more active political role in their country. Though there is still much to do—this is the first real step toward women’s political empowerment in Jordan,” said Attar. The National Democratic Institute, who worked with five of the six winning women candidates, provided training and support to women candidates, encouraged Jordanians to vote, and assisted journalists in reporting on the elections and their run-up. NDI partnered with the Jordanian National Commission for Women to hold several skills trainings that addressed such issues as managing time, targeting voters, recruiting volunteers, fundraising, formulating and implementing a field strategy, and learning the Golden Rule of campaigning, “Getting the right message, to the right audience, at the right time, many times, in a variety of ways.” NDI also provided one-on-one consultations to women candidates and sponsored two candidate debates with the NGO AmanNet. Each debate featured six women candidates, and focused on the role of women in politics. To train Jordanian journalists on election coverage, NDI held individual consultations, and sponsored a workshop for the Arab Women Media Center (AWMC). Topics of the workshop ranged from journalistic ethics, to how to take another look at a story that has already been published, how to prepare a follow up, how to sell a story to an unenthusiastic editor, and how to persuade a candidate to open up for the interviewer. Now that the elections have concluded, NDI is planning to train the women parliamentarians to interact with the press, set their goals, work together, shape and maintain their message, and learn how to best use their time, build coalitions, and conduct research. Focusing on human rights and skills training, Sisterhood is Global International/Jordan (SIGI/J) held several workshops devoted to improving candidate skills. A series of workshops titled “Citizens Rights,” emphasized women’s rights, especially as voters and candidates. Other human rights workshops focused on the rights of women in the context of Islam, and how to identify human rights abuses. For its skills training program SIGI/J held six computer/Internet training sessions, which covered basic computer skills, and how to use the Internet to conduct advocacy and research. According to Lina Quora, executive director of SIGI/J, as a result of SIGI/J’s workshops, “Women’s attention to citizenship was enhanced which transformed their daily attitudes. More interest in political activities was created, causing women to seriously consider themselves as voters, candidates and parliamentarians.” 
The Women’s Union of Jordan (JWU) conducted a series of workshops for young, voting age women that covered such topics as the Jordanian election law and electoral process, Jordanian women and legislative authority, and women as voters and candidates. Like NDI, the Women’s Union of Jordan plans to help the newly elected women parliamentarians, through regular consultations, and providing research results and technical assistance. JWU is also working with other NGO’s to pressure the parliament to increase women’s rights.
Also conducting a voter education campaign, the Women’s Organization to Combat Illiteracy (WOCI) held a five day training session discussing such topics as the history of the democratic and electoral process in Jordan, legislation relevant to the elections, and how to be an educated and informed voter. As part of the training, mock debates, where three women played the role of candidates and delivered a speech detailing their election agenda, were held. The other participants acted the part of voters, and discussed and critiqued the various platforms and issues. Finally, the Arab Women’s Media Center conducted five seven-day training sessions for women NGO representatives and activists. The topics covered: the role of women as portrayed in the media, international conventions for women’s rights, peacebuilding skills and advocacy through the media, and relations between civic organizations and the media. AWMC also held communications training for non-media professionals on how to write a press release, do research, conduct an interview, hold a press conference, and how to identify constituents. Still, before women’s full empowerment in Jordan can be realized issues remain to be addressed in Jordan. Among them are the controversial election law, incomplete women’s rights owing to their still generally traditional role in the family and society, and voter apathy which reduces the level of potential votes for women. As the recent election showed, however, these issues are not insurmountable, and are being addressed by many Jordan-based NGO’s, including NED grantees. Natasha Shawarib of the JWU observed that even more important than the statistical improvements shown in the June 17th elections, the programs conducted by NED grantees changed women’s psyches, “The program affected participating women’s social and private lives in many ways,” Shawarib said. “After the program, the women were feeling their existence as an individual and their self confidence was increasing. They were struggling against the traditional gender roles both in the public and private spheres and they were succeeding in changing these roles.” |
|
|
| |