1989 marked start of women’s involvement in parliamentary life as candidates — SIGI

AMMAN — Women’s involvement in elections and voting “truly began” in the elections of the 11th Lower House in 1989, Sisterhood Is Global Institute (SIGI) said in a statement released on Sunday, citing a national report. 

The national report, “Progress of Jordanian Women towards Justice, Participation and Equality” was issued by the Jordanian National Commission for Women in 2010-2011, and highlighted that 12 women ran for the 1989 elections out of 647 candidates, but none of them won. 

Women gained their right to vote in 1974, but because parliamentary life was suspended at the time, they could not exercise their right until 1984 in by-elections to fill vacant seats after the death of some lawmakers, SIGI said, adding that they participated as voters only, as no woman ran for the elections at the time. 

In 1993, the number of women candidates dropped to three out of 534, but one of them, Toujan Faisal, won and became the first Jordanian woman to make it to Parliament, winning one seat out of 80.

Since then and until 1997, many panel discussions and opinion surveys were conducted on allocating a quota for women, because despite having 17 women run for the House elections out of 561 candidates that year, none of them won. 

Thus, under the elections law of 2001, amended in 2003, a quota was allocated for women, comprising six seats out of the 110 seats (5.5 per cent) of the 14th Lower House, elected in 2003, SIGI said, adding that women only won through the quota.

In 2007, 199 women out of 885 candidates ran for the elections (22.5 per cent), and in that year, Falak Jamaani was the first Jordanian woman to win a seat through direct elections rather than the quota, while six women won quota seats.

The highest women representation in Parliament so far in Jordan’s history was recorded this year, standing at 15.3 per cent, with five women winning through direct competition and 15 others securing quota seats.