Gender and Political Participation: Case Studies ... - International IDEA
Gender and Political Participation: Case Studies ... - International IDEA
Gender and Political Participation: Case Studies ... - International IDEA
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<strong>Gender</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong>:<br />
<strong>Case</strong> <strong>Studies</strong> from Egypt, Jordan <strong>and</strong> Yemen<br />
Contributors:<br />
Hala Mustafa<br />
Ibtissam al-Attiyat<br />
Huriya Mashhur<br />
The three case studies papers included in this report were prepared in 2003 as part of a project carried out by <strong>International</strong><br />
<strong>IDEA</strong>, in cooperation with the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), aimed at discussing democratic reform in<br />
Egypt, Jordan <strong>and</strong> Yemen. The project was made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Government of Germany,<br />
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation <strong>and</strong> Development.
© <strong>International</strong> Institute for Democracy <strong>and</strong> Electoral Assistance (<strong>IDEA</strong>)<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)<br />
2005<br />
This report is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not<br />
necessarily represent the views of ANND or those of <strong>International</strong> <strong>IDEA</strong>, its Board or its Council members.<br />
Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or any part of this publication should be made to:<br />
Publications Office<br />
<strong>International</strong> <strong>IDEA</strong><br />
SE -103 34 Stockholm<br />
Sweden<br />
Production <strong>and</strong> editing of the English version: Nadia H<strong>and</strong>al Z<strong>and</strong>er<br />
Cover Design by: Turbo Design, Ramallah<br />
Layout by: Magnus Alkmar, Sweden<br />
This English version is based on translations of the original research papers, prepared in Arabic by local experts<br />
<strong>and</strong> researchers during 2003. The original Arabic version of the reports was produced by the Arab NGO Network<br />
for Development (ANND).
Chapter 1<br />
Hala Mustafa*<br />
Women, Politics<br />
<strong>and</strong> Modernization<br />
in Egypt<br />
1. Introduction<br />
The subject of women <strong>and</strong> modernization is taking on considerable <strong>and</strong> increasing<br />
impor tance because it combines two issues that have constituted <strong>and</strong> continue to<br />
constitute the essence of a project to achieve an Egyptian, Arab <strong>and</strong> Islamic renaissance,<br />
the first steps of which were taken at the end of the 18th century. In one sense, this<br />
historical moment marked the beginning of creative inter action with modern Western<br />
civilization through the pioneering rule of Muhammad Ali in Egypt (1805–48) <strong>and</strong><br />
the beginning of modern Arab thought. In another sense, a national Egyptian elite<br />
began to take shape, open to the world <strong>and</strong> to contemporary culture. This took place<br />
with the spread of education, the widening scope of the middle class, <strong>and</strong> acceptance<br />
of the reasons for modern science <strong>and</strong> learning, reflected in the movements of religious<br />
reform <strong>and</strong> cultural enlightenment. It also took place as the concepts of citizen ship,<br />
equality, <strong>and</strong> public <strong>and</strong> individual freedoms became anchored; awareness of the issue<br />
of liberating women <strong>and</strong> democracy also grew. The first liberal constitution in the<br />
country was promulgated in 1971 <strong>and</strong> the first experiment with a multi party system<br />
took place at the beginning of the 20th century.<br />
These achievements were an indivisible part of the intellectual, reformist project<br />
to modernize the state <strong>and</strong> society. It is therefore difficult to deal with any one of the<br />
issues at h<strong>and</strong> in isolation from the others. Furthering the cause of women remains<br />
linked to furthering the cause of modernization as a whole; Egypt is advocating<br />
modernization so that it can move into the third millennium.<br />
*Dr Hala Mustafa is the Editor in Chief of the Democracy Journal, Al Ahram newspaper, Cairo.<br />
19
Building Democracy in Egypt<br />
Modernization in its widest meaning is based on a distinction between<br />
traditionalism <strong>and</strong> modernity. If we go back to Max Weber, we find that the<br />
‘traditional’ situation is the situation that existed prior to the national state, cultural<br />
rationalism, industrialization, democracy <strong>and</strong> legal constitutionalism.<br />
In brief, this means that modernization involves continual processes of change,<br />
which in most cases require a difficult struggle. Modernization also means a number<br />
of different levels—legal, constitutional <strong>and</strong> institutional, linked to the modernization<br />
of structures <strong>and</strong> institutions; socio-economic; <strong>and</strong> cultural, linked to value systems<br />
<strong>and</strong> the nature of the pre vailing culture. Perhaps this last level is the most difficult,<br />
since change here takes place slowly <strong>and</strong> is often faced by resistance; there are some<br />
traditions <strong>and</strong> customs that are deeply rooted <strong>and</strong> cannot adapt to the requirements<br />
of the age.<br />
This leads on to a number of issues that are connected to the course of modernization<br />
in the Arab world. At the heart of these issues are women, <strong>and</strong> democracy <strong>and</strong> the<br />
related cultural dimensions. These issues can provide a useful analytical framework.<br />
The first issue involves the decline, around the beginning of the 20th century,<br />
of the reformist school, which had taken a liberal path <strong>and</strong> served as a basis for<br />
modernization at the beginning of the 20th century. Its leading symbol in Egypt was<br />
Rifaa al-Tahtawi, who was followed by other intellectual giants such as Taha Husayn,<br />
Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal, Husayn Mu’nis, Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid, Qasim<br />
Amin, Ali Abd al-Raziq, Tawfiq al-Hakim <strong>and</strong> Naguib Mahfouz.<br />
One of the most important reasons for its decline is the growth of intellectual<br />
currents which in many cases advocated projects that were different from, if not<br />
contra dictory to, reformist liberalism. These currents range from the far right (the<br />
fundamentalist <strong>and</strong> Salafi currents) to the far left (Marxism <strong>and</strong> some Arab nationalist<br />
currents), <strong>and</strong> some of them conflated modernization with Westernization as a basis<br />
for attacking the reformist project. For the most part, they gave priority to meeting<br />
external challenges, at the expense of internal structures <strong>and</strong> furthering the cause of<br />
Arab societies, <strong>and</strong> they suffered from this lack of balance between the internal <strong>and</strong><br />
external fronts. It is therefore important, when talking of furthering the cause of<br />
women today, to begin by giving fresh consideration to the concept of modernization,<br />
or rather the intellectual school of moderniza tion, since it is closely connected to the<br />
processes of reform <strong>and</strong> develop ment <strong>and</strong> to the issues that can help any society to<br />
advance.<br />
The second issue is the nature of the role played by the cultural <strong>and</strong> intellectual<br />
elite in the Arab world, <strong>and</strong> the nature of the culture it expresses <strong>and</strong> on whose<br />
basis its role <strong>and</strong> priorities are constituted. Modernization, further ing the cause of<br />
women, encourag ing democracy, improving education, reform in general—all these<br />
are an indivisible part of the intellectual system <strong>and</strong> modernization project of the<br />
Egyptian <strong>and</strong> Arab elite. Does this elite still play the same role <strong>and</strong> have the same<br />
comprehensive intellectual project?<br />
Third, there is the issue of culture, <strong>and</strong> specifically the issue of whether there is<br />
20
Women, Politics <strong>and</strong> Modernization in Egypt<br />
a ‘general agreement’ in society about the concepts <strong>and</strong> foundations that govern the<br />
entire political <strong>and</strong> social experience. We say general agreement, <strong>and</strong> not consensus,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the two should not be conflated. In this context, the word ‘agreement’ implies<br />
shared agreement among different currents <strong>and</strong> segments of society about the basic<br />
principles that ensure their coexistence, as well as ensuring modernization <strong>and</strong><br />
progress. Does this general agreement in fact exist?<br />
In fact it is still missing on the Arab intellectual scene, <strong>and</strong> divisions remain on a<br />
number of vital <strong>and</strong> important issues. This can be considered both an old <strong>and</strong> a new<br />
phenomenon; this state of affairs may be as old as the modernization effort itself <strong>and</strong><br />
was present when the new foundations of Egyptian culture began to form, interacting<br />
with <strong>and</strong> benefiting from modern contemporary culture. At the same time, the<br />
traditional inherited culture has not undergone renewal. The crux of the problem is<br />
that both cultures remained on parallel tracks, <strong>and</strong> this has given rise to two different<br />
types of thought, behaviour <strong>and</strong> ways of dealing with different issues. At times, the<br />
modernizing current has been on the rise <strong>and</strong> at others the traditional, conservative<br />
mode has been in the ascendant; at other times, the latter has been transformed into<br />
a type of intellectual funda mental ism. This phenomenon has been strong since the<br />
end of the 1960s, <strong>and</strong> specifically after the defeat by Israel in 1967.<br />
The absence or weakness of general agreement in Arab thought has led to, <strong>and</strong><br />
continues to lead to, a number of negative phenomena in Arab culture. Perhaps the<br />
most impor tant of these is cultural stagnation—a kind of immersion in the past.<br />
A number of vital issues being discussed today, such as the style <strong>and</strong> content of<br />
improvements to education, the situation of women <strong>and</strong> the development of the<br />
religious discourse, not to mention democracy itself, are the same issues that occupied<br />
the Egyptian elite for almost 200 years. It is as if the whole of Arab thought was halted<br />
at a specific historical moment that cannot be transcended so that we can face the<br />
future.<br />
The absence of general agreement has also seen the spread of cultural dualism,<br />
which is an aspect of the problematic relationship between ‘authenticity <strong>and</strong> the<br />
con tem porary’. This situation does not help the true renewal of Arab culture insofar<br />
as it leads at times to the old being replicated—‘the old’ meaning the type of culture<br />
that still sees values such as freedom, democracy, rationalism <strong>and</strong> women’s rights as<br />
if they are alien to our heritage or are merely the products of a Western culture of<br />
which we should be wary. In the end, as the famous Arab thinker Muhammad ‘Abid<br />
al-Jabiri pointed out, it consecrates a type of patriarchal culture that is not in accord<br />
with the spirit of equality.<br />
All this means that any attempt to move towards modern ization <strong>and</strong> promote<br />
women’s issues requires a review of the cultural <strong>and</strong> epistemological framework that<br />
we use. We need to renew Arab culture <strong>and</strong> must produce a re-reading of our heritage,<br />
<strong>and</strong> present it in an open-minded fashion <strong>and</strong> in a new mentality so that reason <strong>and</strong><br />
interest replace imitation.<br />
A general look at the situation of women in Arab political life will show how<br />
21
Building Democracy in Egypt<br />
far their status has deteriorated. This intellectual <strong>and</strong> political stagnation has been<br />
reflected in the role of women <strong>and</strong> their participation in public life; <strong>and</strong> the question<br />
of women’s political participa tion can be taken as a model for this decline.<br />
2. <strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Arab Women<br />
<strong>Political</strong> participation by women involves two main dimensions: (a) the legal <strong>and</strong><br />
constitutional framework, <strong>and</strong> (b) the political climate <strong>and</strong> social <strong>and</strong> cultural aspects.<br />
Perhaps the former is more important in Arab societies, but in any case there is a large<br />
gap between what the laws <strong>and</strong> constitutions say <strong>and</strong> what is practised on the ground.<br />
Legal <strong>and</strong> constitutional rights for women have historically been endorsed as part<br />
of the huge progress that has taken place since the Renaissance in Europe, from the<br />
French Revolution of 1789 to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.<br />
This document was approved by most countries after the end of World War II <strong>and</strong><br />
redrafted the concept of human <strong>and</strong> individual rights at an international level.<br />
It should be pointed out here that these rights <strong>and</strong> freedoms (especially those related<br />
to women) were not endorsed all at once. The right to vote, for example, was only<br />
endorsed four or five decades ago in the form in which it exists today. Up to that time,<br />
women had been denied the right to vote in developed countries. Gradual progress on<br />
this issue then began to take place, spreading to most Arab countries.<br />
For example, article 40 of the Egyptian Constitution (the 1956 <strong>and</strong> the 1971<br />
constitutions) states that citizens ‘are equal in front of the law <strong>and</strong> equal in rights <strong>and</strong><br />
duties. There shall be no discrimination between them based on gender, origin, language<br />
or belief’. It was considered one of the most advanced constitutions in this regard.<br />
The 1956 constitution was seen as the first Egyptian, <strong>and</strong> Arab, constitution to<br />
grant women the right to vote <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong> for office; Law no. 73 of 1956, on political<br />
rights, did not refer to gender but rather dealt with women as citizens. It gave women<br />
the right to st<strong>and</strong> for Parliament as long as they had citizenship, were registered voters,<br />
<strong>and</strong> were at least 30 years of age <strong>and</strong> literate. In order to vote, a woman had to be 18<br />
<strong>and</strong> not be under any restriction on exercising her political rights—that is, the same<br />
conditions as those that apply to men. However, did these progressive constitutions<br />
reflect the true situation of women <strong>and</strong> their representation in political life?<br />
This question can be answered with figures. The actual representation of women<br />
has differed from one era to another. In the 1957 election, the first after the Law on<br />
<strong>Political</strong> Rights was issued, only two women won seats in the legislature, representing<br />
0.5 per cent of the members. Today, around 45 years later, this percentage has risen.<br />
However, there are only 11 women out of 454 members of the current People’s<br />
Assembly (Majlis al-Sha’b), seven elected <strong>and</strong> four appointed by the president. There<br />
was a period in which the percentage of female representation in Parliament was higher<br />
than it is today, for instance, in the 1979 <strong>and</strong> 1984 legislatures, when women made up<br />
9 per cent <strong>and</strong> 8.25 per cent of the legislature, respectively. This rise can be attributed<br />
to the issuing of Law no. 188 of 1979 which set aside a quota (30 seats) for women<br />
22
Women, Politics <strong>and</strong> Modernization in Egypt<br />
as a type of affirmative action. However, this law was then repealed in 1986, <strong>and</strong> this<br />
greatly affected the percentage of women in the legislature, as is shown by the results of<br />
the parliamentary elections in 1990, 1995 <strong>and</strong> 2000.<br />
In the 1990 elections, there were only 42 women c<strong>and</strong>idates out of a total of 2,676.<br />
Thus, women made up only 1.6 per cent of the total number of c<strong>and</strong>idates. Only seven<br />
women won seats, meaning a percentage of less than 1.6 per cent representation in the<br />
legislature.<br />
In the 1995 elections, there were 87 female c<strong>and</strong>idates out of a total of 3,980, or<br />
2.1 per cent of the total number of c<strong>and</strong>idates. Most of these women ran as independents,<br />
without any support from political parties. Only five women obtained seats, <strong>and</strong> four<br />
women were appointed to the People’s Assembly. This meant that 1.9 per cent of the<br />
454 deputies were women.<br />
The same thing happened in the recent parliamentary elections, which took place<br />
in October <strong>and</strong> November 2000. Out of a total of 4,250 c<strong>and</strong>idates, 109 women ran<br />
for seats, meaning a percentage of 2.56 per cent. Seven won seats <strong>and</strong> four other women<br />
were appointed by the president, so that the 11 female deputies held 2.49 per cent of<br />
the total number of seats. This is lower than the proportion of women represented in<br />
other Arab legislatures, such as the Tunisian Parliament, where female representation is<br />
11.5 per cent. The proportion of women in the Tunisian Parliament has risen steadily<br />
since 1959, when it stood at 1.1 per cent, climbing to 3.2 per cent in 1979 <strong>and</strong> 5.4 per<br />
cent in 1981.<br />
As for the Majlis al-Shura (the Consultative Council), which is the other half of<br />
the Egyptian legis lature, there were only seven female deputies here when the body was<br />
established in 1981. The number rose slightly to 12 in 1992 <strong>and</strong> then 15 in 1995, out<br />
of a total of 264 members. The average rate of female representation here has never<br />
been above 5.6 per cent.<br />
A similar situation obtained in the by-elections for renewing the m<strong>and</strong>ate of the<br />
People’s Assembly in 1998, when 397 c<strong>and</strong>idates contested the 66 vacant seats. There<br />
were only seven female c<strong>and</strong>idates, or about 1.4 per cent of the total, <strong>and</strong> only one was<br />
able to win a seat.<br />
When it comes to women participating in local councils, the situation is not much<br />
better. Women made up only 10.22 per cent of the total number of seats on popular<br />
councils throughout the Republic at the beginning of the 1980s. This percentage<br />
dropped to 2.11 per cent in 1991 <strong>and</strong> then to 1.2 per cent in 1992. This did not<br />
improve much through the rest of the 1990s. The local elections that took place in 1997<br />
saw 663 female c<strong>and</strong>idates out of a total of 58,793, or about 1.2 per cent. Most of the<br />
women who won seats belonged to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). The<br />
most recent local elections, in April 2002, saw an increase in the number of c<strong>and</strong>idacies<br />
by women, to 1,034, but only 774 won seats. These figures are far below the numbers<br />
of women on local councils in Tunisia, where they make up about 21.6 per cent of<br />
the seats elected in the 2000 elections. After the 1990 elections the figure was about<br />
14 per cent.<br />
23
Building Democracy in Egypt<br />
This weak representation of women raises the question of what type of electoral<br />
system is best suited to giving women the opportunity for an appropriate level of<br />
repre sentation in Parliament. Is it the c<strong>and</strong>idate-centred system, which is in place in a<br />
number of Arab countries, including Egypt? Or is it the party list system, or a system<br />
that combines the two? Is it better to set aside a quota of seats designated for women,<br />
which only women can contest, as happened in Egypt in 1979 <strong>and</strong> 1984? Or is it<br />
better to let the competition be free <strong>and</strong> open?<br />
Weak female political representation is not confined to the legislature or<br />
par tici pation in general elections. It also extends to women’s entire presence in political<br />
life in general, <strong>and</strong> especially in political parties. The contribu tion of Egyptian women<br />
to political party activ ity is extremely limited, if not absent altogether. The political<br />
programmes of all Egyptian political parties, despite their differing ideological<br />
orientations, advocate the need for a suitable climate to help women exercise their<br />
rights <strong>and</strong> duties. However, in reality, political parties continue to work against such<br />
proposals. Some of the proposals that have been made by some parties, such as the<br />
formation of women’s committees, as part of a call for women to be represented in the<br />
groups’ organizational structure, are purely formal <strong>and</strong> have not changed anything<br />
on the ground. Parties are usually content to mouth the slogans contained in their<br />
platforms, such as references to the role of women, without this having any real<br />
content.<br />
For example, the Wafd Party is the organization that has been seen historically<br />
<strong>and</strong> quali fies ideologically as liberal. However, only 2 per cent of its total membership<br />
is female. The leftist Tagammu’ (National Progressive Unionist Party), according to<br />
its party programme, sets aside ten seats on its Central Committee for women, or<br />
its ‘women’s wing’, as it calls it. In practice, however, it appears that there are only<br />
four women on the committee. It was natural that a Salafi–Islamist party such as the<br />
Labour Party (whose activities are currently frozen) would not have more than two<br />
women represented on its Higher Committee.<br />
The last election for the People’s Assembly provides a clear indication of this<br />
problem. Out of the 109 female c<strong>and</strong>idates st<strong>and</strong>ing, the NDP put forward only 11<br />
out of its total of 444 c<strong>and</strong>idates. This represented 2.48 per cent of the total. Wafd<br />
had eight women can didates out of its total of 272 c<strong>and</strong>idates (2.94 per cent), <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Tagammu’ Party three out of a total of 51 c<strong>and</strong>idates (5.88 per cent), showing that it<br />
is the best of all parties when it comes to nominating women—the result of its leftist<br />
traditions. The small parties, mean while, comprise groups like the Ahrar Party, which,<br />
despite its lack of official presence on the political scene, put forward seven women<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates. The Green Party fielded two women c<strong>and</strong>idates, while the Umma <strong>and</strong><br />
Social Justice parties <strong>and</strong> the Muslim Brotherhood had one each. Women therefore<br />
resorted to st<strong>and</strong>ing as independents, <strong>and</strong> 75 did so (1.76 per cent of the total number<br />
of c<strong>and</strong>idates), or roughly the same percentage as in the 1995 election, when 49<br />
women ran as independents (1.23 per cent of the total number of c<strong>and</strong>idates). Parties<br />
<strong>and</strong> political groups fielded less than half of the women c<strong>and</strong>idates; their reluc tance<br />
24
Women, Politics <strong>and</strong> Modernization in Egypt<br />
to do so can be explained by their doubt that women would be able to run effective<br />
campaigns <strong>and</strong> secure the majority of votes needed to win.<br />
This leads us to ask how far the political parties have genuinely taken up the issue<br />
of political par ticipation by women, whether inside the party through leadership<br />
posts or outside the party through c<strong>and</strong>idacy on electoral lists. By definition, political<br />
parties are one of the channels for political modernization, whether in terms of<br />
political culture or in social terms, since they are supposed to represent a wide base<br />
<strong>and</strong> be drawn from different segments of society. The evolution <strong>and</strong> health of political<br />
parties is one of the most important guarantees of political vitality <strong>and</strong> democratic<br />
effectiveness. We must call on all political parties to make the role of women in the<br />
party more effective, since the parties are among the most important institutions<br />
responsible for furthering the causes of women.<br />
From these statistics, it is obvious that political participation by women remains<br />
very modest <strong>and</strong> does not approach the level of rights recognized in the constitution<br />
<strong>and</strong> the laws regarding women. This level of participation does not meet the hopes<br />
<strong>and</strong> aspira tions that were prevalent during the era of national independence (or postcolonial<br />
period) more than six decades ago.<br />
We turn now to the second dimension of political participation by women—the<br />
political climate <strong>and</strong> social <strong>and</strong> cultural aspects. With regard to the cultural aspect in<br />
an Arab context, there are a number of interconnected factors, related to the inherited<br />
socio-cultural legacy prevalent in Arab societies, which in the end define the general<br />
frame work for participation by Arab women. These are reflected on more than one<br />
level, such as the weak participation by women in political life, especially when it<br />
comes to filling high-ranking leadership positions or st<strong>and</strong>ing for elected office.<br />
Because of this cultural inheritance, Arab women have come to suffer from a lack<br />
of confidence in their abilities <strong>and</strong> capabilities. Women believe that men are qualified<br />
to undertake political work ‘because they can express them selves better <strong>and</strong> are free of<br />
social constraints; thus they have better freedom of movement’, as some opinion polls<br />
indicate. Supporting this conviction is the rise in illiter acy among women, especially<br />
rural women, <strong>and</strong> the control of custom <strong>and</strong> tradition, which inflates the role of<br />
men <strong>and</strong> limits the role of women on the basis of the concept of ‘shame’ or the<br />
unseemliness of certain types of behaviour by women.<br />
Social <strong>and</strong> cultural institutions of varying types have played a role in cementing<br />
this inherited cultural view of women. These institutions do not bring up boys <strong>and</strong><br />
girls on the basis of equality between the sexes, but rather reinforce the idea of male<br />
superiority. There is the idea that men are better able to undertake difficult tasks than<br />
women, <strong>and</strong> this includes politics <strong>and</strong> government. Thus, women grow up thinking<br />
that they have certain limits which should not be transgressed. The appearance of the<br />
funda mentalist phenomenon in the Arab world has supported this inherited cultural<br />
mindset, which reinforces the negative view of women <strong>and</strong> their role, especially in the<br />
domain of participation in public life <strong>and</strong> politics.<br />
25
Building Democracy in Egypt<br />
3. Women <strong>and</strong> Politics: Getting Beyond<br />
the Socio-Cultural Mindset<br />
In contrast to the situation in the political parties <strong>and</strong> the legislature, we find that<br />
women play an important role in the civil sector <strong>and</strong> volunteer associations, or what<br />
is called ‘civil society’. Egyptian women have had an honourable record in this regard<br />
since the early 20th century. For example, their representation in the 23 professional<br />
associations <strong>and</strong> unions has reached 28 per cent. Women are most strongly represented<br />
in the nurses’ union, where they make up 92 per cent of members, followed by the<br />
union of social professions (55 per cent), the teaching unions (52 per cent) <strong>and</strong> the<br />
labour unions (3.4 per cent). Women have held leadership positions in four labour<br />
unions; the number of volunteer <strong>and</strong> civil associations <strong>and</strong> women’s federations has<br />
risen in the past ten years, <strong>and</strong> the percentage of women in them has also increased.<br />
This quick look at the activity of women in the civil sector highlights the fact that<br />
the absence of women in the political arena is connected to the prevailing traditional<br />
culture <strong>and</strong> not to a lack of ability.<br />
There are some indications that the political role of women might be strengthened.<br />
However, the course <strong>and</strong> quality of this development, if it happens, will depend on<br />
several factors, both negative <strong>and</strong> positive, <strong>and</strong> the interaction between them.<br />
One of the most important of these is certainly the socio-cultural legacy referred<br />
to above. In fact, there are broad opportunities to surmount this legacy <strong>and</strong> urgent<br />
reasons for doing so.<br />
In one sense, recent years have seen changes on the inter national level, such as<br />
globaliza tion <strong>and</strong> its political, economic, social <strong>and</strong> cultural manifestations. No society<br />
can remain isolated from these changes, <strong>and</strong> an international discourse has arisen in<br />
the midst of them which stresses the need to respect <strong>and</strong> strengthen human rights,<br />
with women’s rights, including women’s political rights, at the heart of the topic.<br />
Women’s rights are considered an indivisible part of human rights, if not central.<br />
A number of inter national conferences, such as the <strong>International</strong> Conference on<br />
Population <strong>and</strong> Develop ment in Egypt in 1994, the Fourth <strong>International</strong> Conference<br />
on Women in Beijing in 1995, the First Arab Women’s Summit in Cairo in 2000, <strong>and</strong><br />
the Second Arab Women’s Summit in Casablanca in 2001, have discussed women’s<br />
rights. Workshops <strong>and</strong> seminars held by non-governmental organizations (NGOs)<br />
at the local <strong>and</strong> inter national levels have dealt with women’s issues. The current<br />
international discourse confirms the need to make the role of women more effective<br />
in all domains, since this is part of the com pre hensive development of society: it<br />
is important to empower women so that they can reach positions of influence,<br />
decision making <strong>and</strong> authority in their countries. Their opinions must be taken into<br />
consideration when drafting <strong>and</strong> implementing public policies.<br />
Moreover, the Egyptian state has recently shown an increased interest in boosting<br />
the role of women. This has stemmed from the belief that women’s issues were no<br />
longer merely a question of gender, meaning a struggle for equality between men<br />
26
Women, Politics <strong>and</strong> Modernization in Egypt<br />
<strong>and</strong> women, but rather an issue that concerns <strong>and</strong> affects societies as a whole. The<br />
official discourse in a number of Arab states has affirmed the need to improve the<br />
political presence of Arab women; some states have taken positive, practical steps<br />
in this direction. For example, the National Council for Women was established<br />
in Egypt in 2000 as a forum to express the voice of women in all the areas that<br />
affect their life <strong>and</strong> encourage women to enter public life <strong>and</strong> widen the base of their<br />
political participation.<br />
The council represents an important mechanism for improving the social <strong>and</strong><br />
political role of Egyptian women, <strong>and</strong> can be relied on in the future to create female<br />
cadres. In cooperation with the ministries concerned, especially the ministries of<br />
culture <strong>and</strong> informa tion, the council can play a leading role in spreading a social<br />
awareness that is characterized by underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> flexibility, <strong>and</strong> is positive about<br />
political participation by women <strong>and</strong> about adopting their causes. In addition, an<br />
Egyptian woman (Laila Jaafar, who succeeded Hind Tantawi) has become head of<br />
the Parliamentary Administrative Committee; <strong>and</strong> the first female judge in Egyptian<br />
history was appointed in 2003, when Tahani al-Jabali was appointed an adviser to the<br />
Supreme Constitutional Court, with the position of vice-president of the court.<br />
In other Arab countries, two female ambassadors <strong>and</strong> five state secretaries have<br />
been appointed in Tunisia, <strong>and</strong> a woman holds the post of second deputy speaker of<br />
Parliament. More than 20 women have been selected for various tasks in government<br />
ministries. The representation of women on Tunisia’s Higher Judicial Council st<strong>and</strong>s<br />
at 13.3 per cent, <strong>and</strong> on the country’s Social Economic Council it is 11 per cent. One<br />
woman was elected vice-president of the council <strong>and</strong> another serves as a committee<br />
chair; women hold the position of administrative auditor <strong>and</strong> general manager of<br />
a bank. In Jordan, a woman holds the post of deputy prime minister; in Morocco<br />
there is a woman deputy foreign minister; Bahrain saw its first female ambassador<br />
appointed in 1999; <strong>and</strong> in Kuwait a draft law has been proposed to grant women<br />
the same voting <strong>and</strong> c<strong>and</strong>idacy rights as men. Although the Kuwaiti legislature (the<br />
Majlis al-Umma) has rejected the draft law on more than one occasion, the fact that<br />
the idea has been raised again provides strong evidence of the beginnings of positive<br />
signs of support for the political role of women, which will bear fruit sooner or later.<br />
Another positive factor promoting support for the political role of Egyptian <strong>and</strong><br />
Arab women is the increase <strong>and</strong> growth in the democratic development processes in<br />
most Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, <strong>and</strong> Gulf countries<br />
such as Kuwait <strong>and</strong> Bahrain). The transition towards democracy, involving positive<br />
<strong>and</strong> open-minded con cepts in political culture, is helping to produce sound political<br />
guidance <strong>and</strong> education for women, which in turn is creating new directions <strong>and</strong><br />
approaches when it comes to women’s issues <strong>and</strong> their role in society.<br />
Reinforcing this positive factor is the considerable increase in the education of<br />
girls in all Arab countries <strong>and</strong> their entry into the labour market. This has helped to<br />
improve their pol itical awareness—a necessary step in principle towards their true<br />
involvement in political activity. In Egypt, for example, the illiteracy rate for women<br />
27
Building Democracy in Egypt<br />
dropped to 52 per cent in 2003, after st<strong>and</strong>ing at 62 per cent in 1986. The same<br />
figure has dropped to 35 per cent in Tunisia <strong>and</strong> is at its lowest level in Lebanon, at<br />
only about 17.3 per cent, according to estimates for 2003.<br />
The percentage of Egyptian girls who have received a pre-university education<br />
stood at 31 per cent in 1996, compared to 21 per cent in 1986. The proportion<br />
of those who had received university-level education or higher was 4 per cent in<br />
1996, compared to 1.3 per cent ten years earlier. The percentage of women in the<br />
teaching profession at various levels in Egyptian uni versities stood at 35 per cent for<br />
the 2000/2001 academic year.<br />
There are therefore wider opportunities to reduce or overcome the negative<br />
aspects of the factors that are restricting the political role of women. With increased<br />
openness to the outside world <strong>and</strong> the continuing democratic evolu tion, a general<br />
climate is being created that goes beyond the traditional cultural legacy where women<br />
<strong>and</strong> their role <strong>and</strong> status in society are concerned. Moreover, women’s political<br />
awareness <strong>and</strong> confidence in their abilities to achieve tangible progress in the political<br />
sphere are growing. In the final analysis, therefore, the interaction of positive <strong>and</strong><br />
negative aspects concerning Egyptian <strong>and</strong> Arab women seems on balance to favour<br />
the improvement <strong>and</strong> development of their role.<br />
4. Conclusion<br />
The issue of women <strong>and</strong> modernization has two particularly important aspects.<br />
The first is the view of women’s issues as a goal of modernization, or as a subject<br />
for modernization. One of the most important signs of the modernization of society<br />
is connected to the role of women in society. We cannot speak of a modern society<br />
without considering the status of women; we cannot speak of such a society if its<br />
women do not enjoy their social, political, cultural <strong>and</strong> economic rights <strong>and</strong> if<br />
women have not achieved full dignity <strong>and</strong> social status. This will not take place unless<br />
special attention is paid to women in efforts at development <strong>and</strong> when it comes to<br />
education, providing means of social assistance, <strong>and</strong> supporting their participation<br />
in various domains. Here, it becomes necessary to focus particularly on achieving<br />
political participation for women as a milestone on the way to social <strong>and</strong> political<br />
modernization.<br />
The second aspect is the role played by women in the process of development,<br />
or women as ‘agents’ of modernization <strong>and</strong> a force for change. True develop ment,<br />
moderniza tion <strong>and</strong> democracy will not be achieved without the participation of<br />
women, who form one-half of society. This requires raising the level of their participation<br />
<strong>and</strong> representation in the process of change at various levels, such as the<br />
executive <strong>and</strong> judicial branches of government, as well as the political parties. This<br />
must also affect the institutions of civil society, so that women take part in policy<br />
making, directing means of guiding <strong>and</strong> educating society <strong>and</strong> other areas that help<br />
see the process of modernization through to the end.<br />
28
Women, Politics <strong>and</strong> Modernization in Egypt<br />
In summary, the situation of women as a force for change <strong>and</strong> modernization is<br />
con nected to their position in society in general, <strong>and</strong> in political <strong>and</strong> public life in<br />
particular, as well as the impact they have in the various positions they now hold.<br />
29
Chapter 1<br />
Ibtissam al-Attiyat*<br />
<strong>Participation</strong> in<br />
Public Life <strong>and</strong> its<br />
Impact on Women<br />
in Jordan<br />
1. Introduction<br />
Recent decades have seen increasing interest in both women’s issues <strong>and</strong> the nature<br />
<strong>and</strong> form of female participation in society. This interest has been reflected clearly<br />
on both the local <strong>and</strong> the international levels. Locally, Jordan has seen important<br />
achievements relating to women’s rights <strong>and</strong> empower ment <strong>and</strong> raising women’s<br />
status in society. This has been in keeping with developments in women’s lives <strong>and</strong><br />
their increasing entry into the workplace, education <strong>and</strong> politics. Women have<br />
recently obtained a number of rights, represented in amendments to a number of<br />
laws, such as the Parliamentary Election Law, which was amended in 2003 to provide<br />
a quota of seats for women, <strong>and</strong> the Personal Status Law, particularly those pro visions<br />
related to divorce initiated by the wife, male polygamy, <strong>and</strong> the raising of the legal<br />
age of marriage. Another change, which is unprecedented in the Arab world, was the<br />
incorporation of a gender perspective in the five-year national develop ment plan for<br />
1999–2003 in various state institutions <strong>and</strong> government departments.<br />
These recent achievements have crowned a decades-long struggle waged by<br />
Jordanian women through the women’s movement, but the credit for them is due to<br />
several factors which have come to have an impact on women’s lives <strong>and</strong> work for their<br />
betterment. One of the most important of these factors is the international efforts<br />
to guarantee more rights for women <strong>and</strong> combat dis crimination against them, in all<br />
forms. At the international level, <strong>and</strong> especially the level of the United Nations (UN),<br />
* Dr Ibtissam al-Attiyat is a researcher <strong>and</strong> analyst in political science. She currently works with the<br />
Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW).<br />
25
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
thanks are due to the male <strong>and</strong> female activists in the field of human rights <strong>and</strong> women’s<br />
rights, in the countries of both the North <strong>and</strong> the South, who have worked to ensure<br />
that women’s issues are on the public agendas of states. Their efforts have taken place<br />
over an entire decade designated for women (1975–85); this was followed by various<br />
meetings <strong>and</strong> conferences organized for follow-up <strong>and</strong> evalua tion. The work plan of<br />
the 1995 Fourth <strong>International</strong> Con ference on Women in Beijing affirmed the need<br />
to adopt effective policies <strong>and</strong> strategies to reflect paragraph 86 of the <strong>International</strong><br />
Strategy for Women’s Progress, 2000, which stipulated that governments <strong>and</strong> political<br />
parties must intensify their efforts to guarantee <strong>and</strong> secure equal participation for<br />
women in all local, national <strong>and</strong> legislative bodies, <strong>and</strong> guarantee equality in appointments,<br />
selection <strong>and</strong> pro motion to high office in the administrative, legislative <strong>and</strong><br />
judicial apparatuses of these bodies, at the local level.<br />
This chapter gives a general account of women’s participation in Jordanian pub lic<br />
life <strong>and</strong> its impact on the situation of women in society. It poses questions about the<br />
form <strong>and</strong> reality of women’s participation, <strong>and</strong> exp<strong>and</strong>s on this to examine the passive<br />
dimensions of participation, such as voting in elections, <strong>and</strong> active participation in<br />
positions of decision making in civil society <strong>and</strong> the state. It also examines the role<br />
played by recent develop ments, such as the adoption of the quota system <strong>and</strong> the<br />
amend ments to legislation governing the role of women <strong>and</strong> their general public<br />
image in society. In addition, the chapter aims to discuss <strong>and</strong> define the factors <strong>and</strong><br />
developments that have affected the form <strong>and</strong> scope of female participation, as well<br />
as the obstacles to this participation.<br />
To answer these questions, the chapter adopts a multifaceted methodology. In<br />
discussing quantitative issues, we have benefited from statistics issued by various parties,<br />
including the Interior Ministry, the Chamber of Deputies, the Ministry of Social<br />
Development <strong>and</strong> the Department of Statistics, regarding the gender distribution<br />
of public participation in elec tions, municipal councils <strong>and</strong> civil society groups. In<br />
analysing qualitative issues, this chapter evaluates interviews with female deputies <strong>and</strong><br />
former deputies, <strong>and</strong> activists in women’s rights <strong>and</strong> women’s organizations, to study<br />
the relevant features of their efforts <strong>and</strong> political experience.<br />
Sections 2 <strong>and</strong> 4 of this chapter discuss the form <strong>and</strong> scope of women’s participation<br />
in public life in general, followed by an evaluation of the policies <strong>and</strong> efforts to<br />
improve their status <strong>and</strong> boost female political participation, <strong>and</strong> the role of the state<br />
<strong>and</strong> its institutions <strong>and</strong> civil society, especially women’s organizations, in this regard.<br />
Section 5 discusses the obstacles <strong>and</strong> challenges, past <strong>and</strong> present, to female political<br />
participation <strong>and</strong> an effective role for women in public life. Section 6 provides a<br />
general evaluation of the impact of women’s participation in public affairs, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
study concludes in section 7 with a number of proposals <strong>and</strong> recommendations that<br />
would help decision makers <strong>and</strong> those involved in women’s issues in Jordan, providing<br />
them with the analytical material for a true picture of women’s participation, which<br />
will enhance Jordan’s democratic project <strong>and</strong> make it more sensitive to gender issues<br />
<strong>and</strong> relations.<br />
26
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
2. Women’s <strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life: General Background<br />
Although public participation by women in general is of long st<strong>and</strong>ing in Jordan,<br />
going back to the 1940s, 1 concern about women’s participation in public life <strong>and</strong><br />
politics appeared relatively late on the agenda of the women’s movement. Concern<br />
with these issues occupied a vital place after the setting up in 1954 of the Arab<br />
Women’s Union, whose role was focused on boosting women’s political awareness,<br />
in addition to eradicating illit eracy <strong>and</strong> preparing women to exercise their rights.<br />
The first memor<strong>and</strong>um requesting an amend ment to the Election Law to allow<br />
women to vote in parliamentary <strong>and</strong> municipal elections was submitted to the<br />
government in 1954. The government submitted a draft amendment to the Election<br />
Law to the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, which recommended that political<br />
participa tion be allowed for educated women but not illiterate women.<br />
These results were disappointing <strong>and</strong> required quick <strong>and</strong> effective action. The Arab<br />
Women’s Union then organized high-profile political events, such as a celebration to<br />
which all leading politicians <strong>and</strong> repre sen tatives of political parties <strong>and</strong> unions were<br />
invited. At the celebration, signatures were gathered for a petition calling for women<br />
to be granted the right to vote <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong> for office, <strong>and</strong> for this right to be granted to<br />
illiterate women, as illiterate men enjoyed these rights. The petition also contained<br />
the thumbprints of a number of illiterate women. This campaign, the govern ment<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Union did not last long, for all political activity was banned in 1957, after the<br />
declaration of martial law following political upheavals in the region.<br />
Women’s rights-related activities then took on something of an emergency<br />
character <strong>and</strong> involved indirect action. After the defeat of 1967 <strong>and</strong> the flight of<br />
many Palestinians to Arab countries, especially Jordan, women’s activities began to<br />
appear as part of the general pol itical mobilization that was under way. Thous<strong>and</strong>s<br />
of women took part in the women’s demonstrations that were organized, but this<br />
did not take place openly through the medium of specific organizations, reflecting a<br />
women’s struggle that was unclear <strong>and</strong> lacked stability, subject as it was to the ebb <strong>and</strong><br />
flow of the time (Naffaa 2004). 2 In other words, the women’s movement <strong>and</strong> women’s<br />
organiza tions in general, as with most civil society organizations, became part of the<br />
pan-Arab nationalist struggle <strong>and</strong> political thought; this had a huge impact on the<br />
form <strong>and</strong> scope of women’s political activities. Men who had pan-Arab orientations<br />
in fact set the priorities <strong>and</strong> strategies during this period, <strong>and</strong> women’s issues were<br />
classified as being able to wait <strong>and</strong> thus considered less important (Naffaa 2004).<br />
Women’s activism returned to the scene in an organized fashion at the beginning<br />
of the 1970s, thanks to the United Nations Year of the Woman, in which Jordan<br />
opted to partici pate, <strong>and</strong> to top-level official concern with the country’s image<br />
abroad. In this context, the Union of Jordanian Women was re-established in<br />
November 1974 3 <strong>and</strong> all women received the right to vote <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong> for office in<br />
1974 (although they were unable to exercise these rights owing to the continuing<br />
imposition of martial law). A number of pioneering women who were familiar with<br />
27
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
earlier voluntary women’s activism gathered on the occasion of the celebra tion of<br />
the Year of the Woman, announced by the UN for 1975. They formed a committee<br />
to prepare for the celebration <strong>and</strong> announced the re-establishment of the Union of<br />
Jordanian Women on 17 November 1974.<br />
Concern with women’s issues quickly began to crystallize shortly after. A broad<br />
grouping of specialized women’s organiza tions began to appear, taking it upon<br />
themselves to promote the status of women. They were also influenced by the<br />
international women’s agenda, for which so many women had struggled at the UN;<br />
through the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination<br />
Against Women <strong>and</strong> other agree ments they organized their domestic agenda, which<br />
began to raise ‘taboo’ issues which had not been raised or worked on until recently.<br />
Domestically, violence, crimes of honour <strong>and</strong> the need for legislation banning<br />
discrimination are issues that are all being raised today.<br />
These developments regarding women’s dem<strong>and</strong>s have been strengthened by<br />
other develop ments experienced by Jordan since the 1980s, such as the return of<br />
parliamentary life <strong>and</strong> the policy of democratization, which have prompted many<br />
civil society groups, including those concerned with women’s issues, to appear <strong>and</strong><br />
work on new agendas that are appropriate to the current situation. One of the most<br />
important recent political changes is the coming to power of a younger leadership,<br />
inter ested in pursuing political develop ment, which specifically targets the relationship<br />
between state <strong>and</strong> society. An extremely important move of late has been the launch<br />
of the Jordan First initiative, which established the process of political develop ment<br />
<strong>and</strong> called for the role of principal political players in the political arena, such as<br />
political parties <strong>and</strong> non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to be made effective.<br />
The Jordan First initiative has involved the establishment of a Women’s<br />
Committee, a body tasked with submitting proposals to boost female participation;<br />
it put forward a suggestion for a quota for seats for women in Parliament. The royal<br />
family has also intervened to see a number of amendments to various laws, such as the<br />
Temporary Law on Personal Status <strong>and</strong> Passports, which can be considered a first in<br />
the history of the kingdom, by giving women rights as a person or citizen.<br />
The following sections discuss developments in the participa tion of women in<br />
detail, analysing their impact on the situation <strong>and</strong> status of women in society.<br />
3. Women’s <strong>Participation</strong> in Drafting<br />
<strong>and</strong> Implementing Government Policies<br />
<strong>Participation</strong> in drafting state policies by taking part in government is an important<br />
indicator of the evolution of women’s par ticipation in public decision making,<br />
which in turn influences the lives of individuals, both men <strong>and</strong> women, in society.<br />
At this level, par ticipation comprises being represented in the executive branch of<br />
government, through ministerial portfolios <strong>and</strong> positions in the state bureaucracy, in<br />
addition to holding public-service positions at various levels of government (it should<br />
28
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
be noted that these positions are filled by appointment).<br />
3.1. <strong>Participation</strong> by Women in the Executive Branch<br />
<strong>Participation</strong> in the executive branch of government means assuming responsibility<br />
for various ministerial portfolios. In Jordan it is the custom for the king to appoint<br />
the prime minister, asking him to form a government that will later be presented to<br />
Parliament for a vote of confidence. The first female Cabinet member was named in<br />
1976, when Inaam Mufti held the Social Development Ministry portfolio. A number<br />
of governments (six, to be exact) followed without a single female minister, <strong>and</strong><br />
there was an eight-year wait until 1984, when Laila Sharaf was appointed minister<br />
of information. Another nine years passed before Rima Khalaf was appointed<br />
minister of industry <strong>and</strong> trade in 1993. The issue then became one of quasi-tradition,<br />
as governments thereafter rarely lacked a female minister. In 1994, a woman was<br />
assigned one of the most impor tant ministerial portfolios, as minister of planning,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the same woman was named deputy prime minister in 1999, thus obtaining<br />
the highest position ever reached by a woman in the history of Jordan. However,<br />
since 1995 female representation has mainly focused on the Ministry of Social<br />
Development (there was a female minister in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003). As for the<br />
current government, several women hold ministerial portfolios—in the Ministry of<br />
Tourism <strong>and</strong> Antiquities, in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, as State Minister (as<br />
spokesperson of the government), <strong>and</strong> in the Ministry of Culture <strong>and</strong> the Ministry of<br />
Communications <strong>and</strong> Information Technology.<br />
On the basis of this, we can make the following observations:<br />
1. Female participation in the drafting <strong>and</strong> execution of government policies <strong>and</strong><br />
in holding state positions has seen a noticeable increase. Since 1997, four governments<br />
have been formed, with women represented in all but one.<br />
2. <strong>Participation</strong> by women has been confined to ‘traditional’ themes, namely the<br />
holding of the same ministerial portfolio of social development, with the exception<br />
of Rima Khalaf (industry <strong>and</strong> trade, <strong>and</strong> planning) <strong>and</strong> Laila Sharaf (information).<br />
No woman has held the post of minister of the interior, foreign minister or prime<br />
minister.<br />
3. If we assume that most cabinets comprise 25–30 ministers, then the percentage<br />
of women in them has hovered at about 3 per cent, or one member, which is a very<br />
small percentage that cannot have a strong impact.<br />
3.2. <strong>Participation</strong> in the Chamber of Notables<br />
Seats in the Chamber of Notables, the upper house of the Jordanian Parliament, are<br />
among the highest political positions that are obtained by appointment; they involve<br />
political power <strong>and</strong> influence. Members of this body take part, along with members<br />
29
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
of the elected Chamber of Deputies, in drafting <strong>and</strong> approving legis lation in all<br />
domains. The king appoints members of the Chamber of Notables <strong>and</strong> the body<br />
forms one half of the national legis lature, the other being the Chamber of Deputies.<br />
The 40 members of the upper house are selected on the basis of various criteria, the<br />
most impor tant being political experience, while they should also be figures who are<br />
known on the Jordanian scene. Most of the chamber’s members are former ministers<br />
<strong>and</strong> prime ministers or long-serving politicians.<br />
In any case, female participation here does not appear to be better than it is in<br />
other areas, although a noticeable improvement has been seen since the return of<br />
parliamentary life after 1989. In 1989, one woman was appointed to the 40-member<br />
chamber, followed by two in 1993 <strong>and</strong> three in 1997—the number that is still<br />
maintained today in the 2003 chamber, meaning a level of 8 per cent representation.<br />
3.3. High-Level State Positions<br />
<strong>Participation</strong> in the executive branch also extends to imple menting government policies<br />
by holding state positions <strong>and</strong> performing tasks at various levels of government. Here,<br />
the official indicators provided by the Jordanian National Commission for Women<br />
(JNCW) 4 show that the percentage of women in the highest-ranking positions<br />
st<strong>and</strong>s at 3.2 per cent <strong>and</strong> in Grade One is only 7.4 per cent (Jordanian National<br />
Commission for Women 2002).<br />
3.4. The Judicial Corps<br />
<strong>Participation</strong> in drafting government policies involves the judicial corps, which in Jordan<br />
is not an independent body, but affiliated with the Ministry of Justice. The judicial<br />
corps has seen an increase in female members, with the number of female judges rising<br />
to 17, or 3.6 per cent of the kingdom’s judges. They work in the juvenile courts, the<br />
reconciliation courts, the major criminal courts <strong>and</strong> the courts of first instance. It should<br />
be noted here that a Jordanian female judge was elected by the General Assembly from<br />
among 35 c<strong>and</strong>idates to the <strong>International</strong> Criminal Court in The Hague, the first Arab<br />
ever to reach an international criminal court (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Report on<br />
Eliminating All Types of Discrimination Against Women 2003).<br />
Women’s participation in drafting public policies also includes an unprecedented<br />
initiative in the Arab world, represented by the incorporation of a gender perspective<br />
in the national five-year development plan (for 1999–2003). The JNCW has offered<br />
help <strong>and</strong> support to the government for this purpose; 51 female technical experts were<br />
appointed in sectoral committees, which helped to draft the plan. Whatever the success<br />
of this experiment <strong>and</strong> the specifics of its implementation at present, it is an achievement<br />
that sprang from attempts to incorporate a gender perspective in state institutions <strong>and</strong><br />
depart ments, or those state institutions <strong>and</strong> department that are still in the process of<br />
carrying out gender analysis. 5<br />
30
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
4. The Level of Women’s <strong>Participation</strong> in<br />
Civil Society Organizations<br />
There have been various types of civil society organization since the state of Jordan was<br />
established <strong>and</strong>, although they have seen periods of ebb <strong>and</strong> flow, these organizations<br />
have clearly expressed the activities of political trends <strong>and</strong> voluntary groups in Jordan.<br />
From a gender perspective, we can say that a gender-based qualitative division in<br />
terms of the forms <strong>and</strong> types of activity of different civil society organiza tions<br />
continues to this day. Thus, there are still activities <strong>and</strong> organizations which say<br />
that they are concerned with women <strong>and</strong> concentrate on the framework of civil <strong>and</strong><br />
voluntary work, focusing on women’s issues from time to time, while there are men’s<br />
organizations whose activities focus on economics <strong>and</strong> politics <strong>and</strong> comprise very<br />
few female members. There are voluntary <strong>and</strong> civil associations <strong>and</strong> organizations<br />
with the word ‘women’ in their titles, but their activities involve providing care <strong>and</strong><br />
assistance, <strong>and</strong> they do not concentrate on women, even if things changed somewhat<br />
in the 1990s.<br />
This brings us to the political circumstances experienced by Jordan during the<br />
period of formation of the state, followed by the Arab–Israeli conflict <strong>and</strong> the political<br />
<strong>and</strong> social repercussions of this, in addition to contemporary political developments,<br />
which have been mentioned above.<br />
As a result of these factors, there is a considerable female presence in voluntary<br />
<strong>and</strong> civil organizations that do not have a political agenda. The Law of Associations<br />
<strong>and</strong> Voluntary Organ izations (no. 33 of 1966), meanwhile, forbids these groups from<br />
practising politics or politicizing any issue as part of their work.<br />
The number of women’s organizations rose from three in the 1940s to more than<br />
70 in the 1990s. The number of women members in these groups is estimated at<br />
about 30,000 (Naffaa 1999).<br />
Figure 1.1: <strong>Participation</strong> by Women in Civil Society in Jordan<br />
Voluntary 88%<br />
associations 22%<br />
<strong>Political</strong> parties 90%<br />
10%<br />
Labour unions 77%<br />
23%<br />
Professional 81.1%<br />
associations 18.9%<br />
Men<br />
Women<br />
31
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
Source: Unifem, the Jordanian National Commission for Women <strong>and</strong> the Central Bureau of Statistics,<br />
‘A Report on the Status of Jordanian Women: Demographics, Economic <strong>and</strong> Social <strong>Participation</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
Violence Against Women’, Amman, 2003.<br />
Although female participation on the administrative boards of charitable<br />
associations is relatively low, it is higher than women’s participation in civil society<br />
groups as a whole. As figure 1.1 shows, the highest level of female participation, after<br />
charitable associations, is in unions, both labour unions <strong>and</strong> professional associations<br />
(23 per cent <strong>and</strong> 18.9 per cent, respectively), because membership in such groups<br />
is practically compulsory. A different situation obtains in voluntary associa tions,<br />
where we find very low rates of female member ship. Female participation in the<br />
general assemblies of voluntary associations registered with the Ministry of Social<br />
Development st<strong>and</strong>s at 19.5 per cent, with 25.2 per cent in admin istrative boards<br />
<strong>and</strong> 23 per cent in founding committees, in groups located throughout the kingdom.<br />
The percentages drop in the countryside <strong>and</strong> the Badiya (community of Bedouin).<br />
Figure 1.2 shows the participation of women in administrative boards, general assemblies<br />
<strong>and</strong> founding committees of charitable associations as of 1999.<br />
Figure 1.2: The Form <strong>and</strong> Scope of Women’s <strong>Participation</strong> in<br />
Voluntary Associations in Jordan, 1999<br />
Administrative 74.8%<br />
boards 25.2%<br />
General 80.5%<br />
assemblies 19.5%<br />
Founding 76.8%<br />
committees 23.2%<br />
Men<br />
Women<br />
Source: Ministry of Social Development.<br />
In another important area, participation in political parties, we find very low<br />
percentages of women members (see figure 1.3). There is no female presence worth<br />
mentioning in three out of 31 active parties, while the presence of women in the<br />
remainder is merely symbolic, reaching 8 per cent of the founding committee in the<br />
best of cases, with the exception of the Freedom Party (Hizb al-Ahrar), where female<br />
membership reached 50.5 per cent.<br />
32
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
Figure 1.3: Level <strong>and</strong> Type of Women’s Presence in<br />
Jordanian <strong>Political</strong> Parties<br />
60<br />
50<br />
40<br />
30<br />
20<br />
10<br />
0<br />
Islamic Action Front<br />
Islamic Center Party<br />
Jordanian Popular<br />
Democratic Unity Party<br />
Jordanian<br />
Democratic Left Party<br />
Arab Baath<br />
Progressive Party<br />
Jordanian<br />
Arab Ansar Party<br />
National Popular<br />
Democratic Movement<br />
National Constitutional<br />
Party<br />
Jordanian<br />
Renaissance Party<br />
Freedom Party<br />
Jordanian Peace Party<br />
Percentage of women in leadership bodies<br />
Percentage of women among founding members<br />
The picture becomes clearer when we examine female membership in qualitative<br />
terms, that is, in terms of leadership positions held by women. Here the figure does<br />
not exceed an average of 2.6 per cent. With the exception of the victory by three<br />
women in the Shura Council of the Islamic Action Front (Jabhat al-Amal al-Islami),<br />
which is considered a qual itative change for that party <strong>and</strong> a precedent for parties in<br />
general, the presence of women in leadership positions is symbolic in some cases—for<br />
instance, in the Jordanian Communist Party, the Democratic People’s Party (Hizb<br />
al-Shaab al-Dimuqrati) <strong>and</strong> the Islamic Center Party (Hizb al-Wasat al-Islami)—<br />
<strong>and</strong> practically non-existent in other parties, which suffer from a general weakness,<br />
reflected in their mass base <strong>and</strong> political pro grammes. The situation becomes worse<br />
if we look at the Freedom Party, where women are absent or kept absent from the<br />
party’s leadership body, although the number of women members (53) is one higher<br />
than the number of men (52).<br />
33
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
4.1. <strong>Participation</strong> on Elected Councils <strong>and</strong> Organizations<br />
<strong>Participation</strong> at this level includes participation on municipal councils, which are<br />
elected every two years, <strong>and</strong> in chambers of deputies, elected every four years.<br />
4.1.1. Municipal Councils<br />
In 1982, Jordanian women received the right to vote <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong> for election in<br />
municipal <strong>and</strong> village elections. Since then, they have voted but refrained from<br />
st<strong>and</strong>ing for election.<br />
Many efforts have been made to encourage women’s positive par ticipation in<br />
local politics, by encouraging them to st<strong>and</strong> in the governorates <strong>and</strong> municipalities,<br />
which until a short time ago were effectively closed ‘men’s clubs’. The year 1994<br />
was an important turning point for female participation at this level. A number of<br />
initiatives were launched, the most important being that of Princess Basma Bint<br />
Talal (the representative of women with the UN <strong>and</strong> chair of the JNCW) in 1994;<br />
the Cabinet agreed to appoint 99 women to municipal committees that were set<br />
up to prepare for the elections of municipal councils <strong>and</strong> mayors. To super vise this<br />
process on a continuing basis, a women’s organization was established, the Gathering<br />
of Jordanian Women’s Committees, a voluntary NGO, under the supervision of the<br />
princess. 6<br />
In this climate, 20 women stood for the municipal elections of July 1995. They<br />
are considered a milestone in the history of Jordanian municipal elections. One of the<br />
20 won a mayor’s seat <strong>and</strong> nine others won council seats. Iman Fatimat took many<br />
people in Jordan by surprise when she became the first female mayor in a contest<br />
that saw her win in one of the most ‘tribal’ districts, although a small one, in Khirbat<br />
al-Wahadina, in Karak. This unprecedented victory led to the appointments mentioned<br />
above <strong>and</strong> helped to remove the constraints on women that had kept them from<br />
trying their h<strong>and</strong> in politics at this level (Abu al-Sumn 2003). The number of female<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates has risen since then, with 43 st<strong>and</strong>ing in 1999, <strong>and</strong> only eight winning,<br />
while 25 were appointed to seats by the Cabinet.<br />
There were various ironies in the 2003 municipal elections. First, the elections<br />
saw a large-scale boycott, particularly by Islamists, in protest at an electoral law that<br />
allowed the government to appoint to 50 per cent of the seats. Some observers felt that<br />
this would weaken the effect of elected members. There were 46 female c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
in 305 municipalities, distributed over 12 governorates. The rate of success, like the<br />
voter turnout itself, was very low in some governorates: five women won seats (0.9 per<br />
cent of the total), <strong>and</strong> they came mainly from rural areas. Once again, we see the need<br />
to use means of affirmative action in order for female participation to have an impact:<br />
94 women were appointed to seats by the govern ment, or 27 per cent of the total<br />
number appointed (Ministry of Municipal Affairs 2003) in order to secure some<br />
female representation in each municipal council. A woman was appointed mayor of<br />
34
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
one town in the southern governorate (al-Hasa); she has a degree in engineering <strong>and</strong><br />
is fairly well known <strong>and</strong> popular in her area.<br />
It should be noted that women c<strong>and</strong>idates in larger towns <strong>and</strong> centres were<br />
relatively unsuc cess ful, going down to defeat in the capital, Amman, <strong>and</strong> in Madaba,<br />
Mafraq, Jarash <strong>and</strong> Kerak. These districts are relatively conservative, while the victory<br />
of a woman in the south of the country, where society is sup posedly more conservative,<br />
can be attributed to the development projects being implemented there by many<br />
NGOs. These projects have helped to strengthen women politically by strengthening<br />
them economically. Many development projects in less fortunate rural areas have<br />
concentrated on engaging women in the develop ment process; they are encouraged<br />
to take part in administering local society <strong>and</strong> its resources—activity that is often<br />
marginalized in larger towns <strong>and</strong> policies carried out there.<br />
The low participation by women c<strong>and</strong>idates can be attributed mainly to the<br />
nature of these local councils, which have been monopolized for decades by an elite of<br />
men who wield power <strong>and</strong> influence. The ‘services’ nature of these posts adds another<br />
challenge to women; their absence over the years has put them at a disadvantage when<br />
it comes to building the alliances, networks <strong>and</strong> personal relations required to do the<br />
work.<br />
The impact of participation on women who have taken up munici pal positions,<br />
whether by election or by appointment, has shown disparities. Thirteen women<br />
(ten elected <strong>and</strong> three appointed) expressed a wish not to st<strong>and</strong> again because of the<br />
patriarchal mentality that dominates the municipalities, involving as it does a lack of<br />
respect for the role of women at this level (Abu al-Sumn 2003). However, women’s<br />
participation in the election process was welcomed in other areas, <strong>and</strong> women there<br />
have expressed their desire to st<strong>and</strong> again, confident that they can avoid the mistakes<br />
of the previous election.<br />
Table 1.1: <strong>Participation</strong> of Women in Municipal Councils<br />
Number of Winners Number of Year of election/<br />
appointees c<strong>and</strong>idates appointment<br />
19 9* 20 1995<br />
20 3 10 1996<br />
(complementary elections)<br />
25 8 43 1999<br />
94 5 46 2003<br />
* The tenth woman won the post of mayor.<br />
Source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs.<br />
35
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
Figure 1.4 illustrates a few issues regarding the level of women’s participation<br />
on municipal councils. First, their participation as members remains very weak in a<br />
numerical sense: they constitute only 27 per cent of the appointees <strong>and</strong> only 9 per cent<br />
of elected members. Second, their par ticipation in these councils at senior level is low,<br />
if we exclude their par ticipation in consultative councils, which is around 5 per cent<br />
<strong>and</strong> is mainly due to appointment policies to these councils. Women’s participation<br />
in the more effective executive municipal councils is very weak—only 3 per cent, <strong>and</strong><br />
1 per cent as head of municipal councils. In other words only one Jordanian woman<br />
has ever won a mayoral post <strong>and</strong> this was not repeated, with the exception of the<br />
appointment of a woman mayor for the Al Hasa municipality, in the south. 7<br />
Figure 1.4: Type of Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Municipal Councils<br />
Executive councils<br />
Consultative councils<br />
Mayors<br />
Membership in municipal<br />
councils<br />
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%<br />
Men<br />
Women<br />
Source: Ministry of Municipal Affairs.<br />
4.1.2. <strong>Participation</strong> in Parliamentary Elections <strong>and</strong> in<br />
the Chamber of Deputies<br />
As mentioned above, women in Jordan received the right to vote <strong>and</strong> to st<strong>and</strong> for<br />
Parliament in 1974 as part of preparations for the United Nations Year of the Woman<br />
which was announced that same year, although they were unable to exercise it until<br />
1984, when by-elections were held to fill eight vacant seats in the Chamber of<br />
Deputies, which was revived that year. There were no female c<strong>and</strong>idates, so women’s<br />
participation was limited to voting.<br />
In subsequent elections the scope <strong>and</strong> type of female par ticipa tion in parliamentary<br />
elec tions changed, as it did for other civil society actors. Jordanian women took part<br />
in the elections of 1989, 1993 <strong>and</strong> 1997 more effectively both as c<strong>and</strong>idates <strong>and</strong> as<br />
voters. Female activism grew noticeably after the activists who had earlier sought to<br />
strengthen the role <strong>and</strong> quality of female participation laid the groundwork.<br />
36
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
The 1984 By-Elections<br />
There were no female c<strong>and</strong>idates in these elections. Voter turnout among women was<br />
56 per cent, slightly higher than that of men, which stood at 48 per cent. However,<br />
this high rate is misleading, as observers noted that in many districts, espe cially in<br />
rural <strong>and</strong> Bedouin areas, it did not reflect a true awareness of the importance of<br />
voting. Instead, women were mobilized by men in order to secure votes for a given<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idate—one selected by the head of the household, or to be more precise, the<br />
head of the clan or tribe, without a real proof of the woman’s wishes or conviction<br />
about this c<strong>and</strong>idate (Shatwi <strong>and</strong> Daghestani 1996).<br />
The 1989 Parliamentary Election<br />
The 1989 parliamentary election was significant not only where political development<br />
in Jordan is concerned but also as regards the experience of women in particular. It<br />
followed the announce ment that parliamentary life would return to the country, <strong>and</strong><br />
political parties <strong>and</strong> civil society organizations were permitted to engage openly in<br />
political work. Twelve female c<strong>and</strong>idates stood, but none won. They received between<br />
150 <strong>and</strong> 4,000 votes. However, some received more votes than some male c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
in small districts or those set aside for regional or ethnic quotas. In District 3 in<br />
Amman <strong>and</strong> the Zarqa district, which are the most difficult districts in the country,<br />
women received respectable numbers of votes, more than they did in conservative or<br />
small districts (one c<strong>and</strong>idate in Maan received only 155) (see appendix 1.2).<br />
The 1993 Parliamentary Election<br />
This election was held under a new election law <strong>and</strong> the Single Non-Transferable<br />
Vote (SNTV) electoral system, which replaced the Block Vote (where voters had as<br />
many votes as there were seats to be filled in each multi-member district) used in the<br />
1989 elections. (On SNTV, see also chapter 3, section 3.2, in this report.) Only three<br />
women stood, in Amman’s District 3 <strong>and</strong> Zarqa. Although women were not expected<br />
to win under the new law, Toujan Faisal proved the speculation wrong <strong>and</strong> became<br />
the first female member of the Chamber of Deputies in the country’s history. (Her<br />
political experience <strong>and</strong> the reactions of the street <strong>and</strong> politicians to her activities are<br />
discussed below.) However, her victory was not due solely to competitive reasons, as<br />
she obtained the seat set aside for Circassians <strong>and</strong> Chechens in Amman’s District 3,<br />
obtaining 1,885 votes, or only 4 per cent of the total cast in the district, <strong>and</strong> 46.4 per<br />
cent of the votes cast for the Circassian seat. Appendix 1.3 gives a clear picture of the<br />
number of votes women received in this election. They represented only 2.8 per cent<br />
of the total votes in both districts <strong>and</strong> 4.3 per cent of the total votes cast for seats in<br />
open competition.<br />
The 1997 Parliamentary Election<br />
Toujan Faisal’s victory in the 1993 election encouraged a number of women to st<strong>and</strong><br />
the next time <strong>and</strong> have greater hopes of success. Seventeen declared their c<strong>and</strong>idacy<br />
37
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
in 1997, despite the large-scale boycott by civil society, especially those opposed to<br />
the SNTV system (whose biggest victim was the Islamic Action Front, which lost<br />
more than one half of its representation in Parlia ment, along with other parties that<br />
were not able to get their c<strong>and</strong>idates elected). Female c<strong>and</strong>idates made up about<br />
3.2 per cent of the total number of c<strong>and</strong>idates <strong>and</strong>, although they obtained a total of<br />
1.6 per cent of all votes (higher than the 0.48 per cent of the previous election), none<br />
managed to win <strong>and</strong>, worse, Toujan Faisal was unable to defend her seat.<br />
The 2003 Parliamentary Election<br />
This election took place after a two-year suspension of Parliament; elections had been<br />
suspended for domestic <strong>and</strong> exter nal reasons (the outbreak of the second Palestinian<br />
Intifada (uprising) <strong>and</strong> the then looming war against Iraq); as well as international<br />
factors (the ‘war on terrorism’). These events had their impact on the Jordanian street<br />
<strong>and</strong> political scene, providing a strong justification for the declaration of a state of<br />
emergency (although in the end this became a state of unofficial ‘general alert’). Under<br />
these conditions, a number of changes affected the domestic political situation <strong>and</strong><br />
helped to redraw the relationship between the political authorities <strong>and</strong> the people.<br />
<strong>Political</strong>ly, the state launched a national campaign under the name of the Jordan First<br />
initiative, which saw the formation of various committees tasked with constructing<br />
a range of policies that would strengthen the political actors in the country. One<br />
of the most important committees concerned women <strong>and</strong> its goal was to support<br />
practical measures that would boost female participation in politics. Based on the<br />
various Jordan First committees’ meetings, the government produced a new election<br />
law, raising the number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies from 80 to 110, with six<br />
set aside for women as part of a quota system (examined further below).<br />
Under these conditions, the 2003 election ushered in a new, very important<br />
phase in the country’s political life in various areas, the most important of which is<br />
that for the first time there was a quota for women’s representation in Parliament,<br />
whose members are elected by the people (six out of 110 seats). Second, the election<br />
followed a two-year suspension of the legislature, during which time amendments<br />
were adopted to over 200 temporary laws (Schwedler 2002), among them laws dealing<br />
with women’s affairs, such as the Personal Status Law, which adopted the principle<br />
of divorce initiated by the wife <strong>and</strong> raised the legal minimum age for marriage from<br />
15 to 18. Laws on citizenship <strong>and</strong> retire ment were also amended. Third, the newly<br />
elected legislature will decide during its m<strong>and</strong>ate the fate of other amendments to<br />
temporary laws <strong>and</strong> those dealing with women’s issues.<br />
The election can be considered to have been fair <strong>and</strong> democratic in general,<br />
although some c<strong>and</strong>idates complained of administrative problems which facilitated<br />
tampering with ballot papers in some districts. These cases, however, have not been<br />
proved. A total of 760 c<strong>and</strong>idates, of whom 54 were women, stood in 2003, with<br />
voter turnout at 48 per cent. (The complete election results can be found at .)<br />
38
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
4.1.3. The Women’s Quota<br />
A number of developments in Jordan <strong>and</strong> the region beginning in 2001 preceded<br />
the adoption of the women’s quota, which was recommended by one of the Jordan<br />
First committees—that dealing with women’s issues. The committee recommended<br />
that eight seats in the Parliament be set aside for women. The government then<br />
decided to allocate six seats only for this purpose. According to one female member,<br />
the committee suffered from internal divisions. Female members with a background<br />
in the women’s movement dem<strong>and</strong>ed that 12 seats be set aside, <strong>and</strong> the opponents<br />
came up with the figure of eight, arguing that the government would not grant more<br />
than this number (Nasser 2003), while the government in the event reduced the<br />
figure to six. At the very end of 2002, the govern ment decided to amend the Election<br />
Law to include this new quota, raising the number of seats from 80 to 110. (The<br />
amendments are listed in detail in appendix 1.1.)<br />
The new law adopted the ‘open quota’ system, giving women in theory two chances<br />
to win seats. The first chance was in competition with the rest of the c<strong>and</strong>idates for<br />
the seat in their district (the total number of districts is 45), whether on the Muslim<br />
seat in any of the districts or on a Christian, Circassian or Chechen seat in the districts<br />
in which these seats were allocated. The second chance would come when the votes<br />
cast for those women c<strong>and</strong>idates who had not won seats were counted <strong>and</strong> the top six<br />
by number of votes cast were selected, regardless of district.<br />
4.1.4. The Consequences of the Women’s Quota<br />
The curtain closed on the 2003 elections with 104 male can didates <strong>and</strong> six female<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates securing seats. Not one of the latter was able to win a seat by election.<br />
Also, the new female members of Parliament (MPs) were from small districts; women<br />
who stood in Amman <strong>and</strong> other heavily populated areas with high voter turnouts did<br />
not win high percentages of votes. This meant that the winning female c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
did not have previous experience in women-related activities or supporting women’s<br />
rights. They had tribal backgrounds, <strong>and</strong> one was a member of the Islamic Action<br />
Front. Table 1.2 shows the results of the quota system <strong>and</strong> the percentages of votes<br />
secured by the winners.<br />
39
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
Table 1.2: Female Winners of Seats under the Quota System, 2003<br />
Seats allocated for women in the kingdom (six seats)<br />
Governorate Name District Percentage<br />
Zarqa Dr Hayat Husayn Ali al-Musaymi First 10.38%<br />
Madaba Falak Suleiman Mubarak Jumani Second 7.958%<br />
Irbid Nariman Zuhayr Ahmad Rusan Fifth 6.19%<br />
Tafila Insaf Ahmad Salama al-Khawalida Second 5.287%<br />
Kerak Zakiya Muhammad Suleimanal-Shamayila First 5.153%<br />
Tafila Adab Mubarak Salih al-Sa’ud First 5.13%<br />
Total: 6 seats<br />
The winners<br />
Dr Hayat al-Musaymi: The only woman on the Islamic Action Front list, <strong>and</strong> running in one<br />
of the toughest districts (District 1), she benefited from a great deal of interest on the part<br />
of voters in the Zarqa Governorate. Her campaign suggested that she would win the largest<br />
number of votes but, surprisingly, she finished in third place, only 52 votes short of victory.<br />
The quota system played a part in her losing, as voters were heard to say that victories for<br />
her <strong>and</strong> other ‘winning’ c<strong>and</strong>idates were inevitable, so a voter’s single vote should be saved<br />
for those who were competing freely (Nasser 2003). al-Musaymi’s 7,133 votes secured her<br />
one of the quota seats.<br />
Nariman Rusan: A lawyer who won in District 5/Liwa Bani Kinana in Irbid, she received 1,684<br />
votes out of the 27,000 votes cast. The support she enjoyed from her tribe played a large<br />
part in her victory.<br />
Adab al-Sa’ud: She stood in al-Tafila’s District 1 <strong>and</strong> obtained 1,132 votes, or 5 per cent of total<br />
votes cast in the district.<br />
Insaf al-Khawalida: Running in al-Tafila’s District 2, she secured 365 votes, or 5 per cent of total<br />
votes cast in the district.<br />
Falak Suleiman Mubarak Jumani: A c<strong>and</strong>idate in Madaba’s District 2, she received 1,048 votes,<br />
or 7.95 per cent of the total.<br />
Zakiya Muhammad Suleimanal-Shamayila: Running in Kerak’s District 1, she obtained 1,336<br />
votes, or 5 per cent of the total.<br />
The following five factors played a role in the wins <strong>and</strong> losses under the quota system.<br />
1. The tribal dimension. This played a central role in supporting c<strong>and</strong>idates,<br />
particularly the winning c<strong>and</strong>idates. In discussions <strong>and</strong> meetings with successful<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates, most focused on their tribe’s role in supporting their campaigns <strong>and</strong> securing<br />
40
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
votes for them. As a result of the quota system, the tribe also had an additional political<br />
role, through the alliances with other, smaller tribes, which found the quota system<br />
a way to secure representation in Parliament. This came after a long period in which<br />
smaller tribes had felt dis appointed by their alliances with larger tribes, believing that<br />
their interests were being largely marginal ized.<br />
2. The religious dimension. This, the second biggest factor in elections in Jordan,<br />
helped to bring women into Parliament as part of the quota system. The Islamist<br />
movements—the most impor tant of which are the Muslim Brotherhood <strong>and</strong> its party,<br />
the Islamic Action Front—played a considerable political role during the campaign,<br />
supporting c<strong>and</strong>idates through an organization that most other parties lacked <strong>and</strong> in<br />
some cases securing them resounding victories. The Front <strong>and</strong> the Brotherhood had<br />
earlier stated their objection to the quota system; nonetheless, they helped Hayat al-<br />
Musaymi get into Parliament, almost winning a seat for her outright. How is this to be<br />
explained?<br />
The decision to participate in elections was a strategic one taken by the Front <strong>and</strong><br />
the Brotherhood as early as 1989, when they participated through independent deputies,<br />
<strong>and</strong> in the 1993 election, when they fielded c<strong>and</strong>idates. They believe in gradual change<br />
from within, so that becoming part of the domestic pol itical system is the only way<br />
they can implement their political platform effectively. This is what happened when the<br />
party’s members (who were deputies at the time) accepted two impor tant ministerial<br />
portfolios, those for education <strong>and</strong> social develop ment. As part of a whole range of<br />
policies, the ministers implemented policies designed to set up a framework of gender<br />
relations <strong>and</strong> to reorganize them in the public sector as an essential part of their political<br />
programme, which calls for the separation of the sexes in the workplace <strong>and</strong> educational<br />
institutions. Thus, the Muslim Brotherhood does not reject the participation of women<br />
in public life but rather wants to regulate this participation according to its political<br />
point of view. Its support for a female c<strong>and</strong>idate was an attempt to exploit the situation<br />
<strong>and</strong> obtain another seat in the legis lature, while securing a politicized Islamist viewpoint<br />
on women’s issues through this c<strong>and</strong>idate <strong>and</strong> preventing a victory by women with a<br />
back ground in the women’s movement.<br />
The religious discourse has reached women as a result of socio-economic changes<br />
that have imposed a new economic situa tion on Jordanian women of the lower <strong>and</strong><br />
middle classes; new questions have arisen, mostly about getting out of the house <strong>and</strong><br />
working in the public sector, <strong>and</strong> what this involves in terms of mixing with the other<br />
sex. This religious discourse, which does not reject women’s having a public role,<br />
provides answers for both men <strong>and</strong> women equally regarding regulating this mixing in<br />
public, without impugning the authority of men.<br />
3. Public activity. This also played an important, albeit secondary role, compared to<br />
the factors listed above. Most of the women who won seats attribute their victories, or<br />
their vote totals, to their relationships in local society, which they helped build through<br />
their daily activities.<br />
4. The election law <strong>and</strong> the method of determining winners. Article 3 of the Election<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
Law defines the process for selecting the winners of quota seats: percentages of votes<br />
obtained within a given district are calculated <strong>and</strong> the winners are those c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
who have secured the top six percentages. This worked in favour of c<strong>and</strong>idates from<br />
electoral districts that were relatively small in terms of population density, although<br />
these districts are for the most part marginalized in terms of political influence. This<br />
method of calculation was the main point of criticism of the quota system in its present<br />
form. (There is also another problem in the amended law, involving the method of<br />
filling a vacant quota seat. Article 45 of the law states that a vacancy should be filled by<br />
a c<strong>and</strong>idate from the same district, <strong>and</strong> not by going back to the relative percentages<br />
obtained throughout the country.)<br />
5. Election campaigns. Winning female c<strong>and</strong>idates repeatedly confirmed that direct<br />
contact with people was the main effective means for securing their victory. For most<br />
of them, the campaign consisted of visits <strong>and</strong> meetings, usually inside homes, which<br />
was the easiest way in rural areas <strong>and</strong> small districts. This strategy is difficult in large<br />
districts, such as the capital, which may be one of the reasons why women in Amman,<br />
especially in heavily populated <strong>and</strong> politicized districts, were not able to win seats.<br />
4.1.5. Disappointment for Women in Amman<br />
As table 1.3 shows clearly, women in the capital, Amman, were unable to win seats. This<br />
caused considerable disappointment for many people, while it was welcomed by others.<br />
C<strong>and</strong>idates blamed each other for their own failure to win election, as well as blaming<br />
the electoral system <strong>and</strong> the voters. The most important elements of this exchange of<br />
blame can be summarized as follows.<br />
From the point of view of the c<strong>and</strong>idates, three factors played the biggest role in<br />
their losing: (a) insincere promises of votes by the public; (b) a late campaign, because<br />
the quota system was late in coming, <strong>and</strong> consequently women were late in announcing<br />
their c<strong>and</strong>idacies; <strong>and</strong> (c) the unfair ness of the current system. Observers see the matter<br />
differently, <strong>and</strong> say that (a) Amman’s ten female c<strong>and</strong>idates did not prepare them selves<br />
sufficiently seriously <strong>and</strong> failed to recognize that, in their society, they lacked a voter<br />
base broad enough to secure victory, (b) because of this lack of a support base among<br />
the voters they were distant from people’s concerns, <strong>and</strong> (c) the c<strong>and</strong>idates did not<br />
coordinate their efforts; they broke up voting blocs with the result that the level of<br />
competition in a given district (District 3, for example) increased.<br />
How far are these arguments justified <strong>and</strong> genuinely indicative of the reasons for<br />
the failure of Amman’s female c<strong>and</strong>idates? Some are credible; the results matched the<br />
expectations of some that a woman would win in the south, where districts were small<br />
<strong>and</strong> voter turnout low. The percentages here would be more encouraging compared to<br />
the big, heavily populated districts.<br />
Some women received more votes than some of the winning c<strong>and</strong>idates, but the<br />
method of calculation prevented them from winning.<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
Table 1.3: Votes Obtained by a Selected Group of Female C<strong>and</strong>idates,<br />
Compared to the Voter Turnout in their Districts <strong>and</strong> the Percentages of<br />
Votes Secured by Winning C<strong>and</strong>idates (2003 election)<br />
Name of c<strong>and</strong>idate Governorate District Number Number Percentage Ratio of the<br />
of votes of votes c<strong>and</strong>idate’s<br />
obtained in the results<br />
district<br />
compared<br />
to total votes<br />
for women<br />
1 Hayat Husayn Zarqa First 7,133 66,790 10.680% 19.606%<br />
Ali al-Musaymi<br />
2 Falak Suleiman Madaba Second 1,048 13,023 8.047% 2.881%<br />
Mubarak ak Jumani<br />
3 Nariman Zuhayr Irbid Fifth 1,684 27,143 6.204% 4.629%<br />
Ahmad Rusan<br />
4 Insaf Ahmad Tafila Second 365 6,811 5.359% 1.003%<br />
Salama al-Khawalida<br />
5 Zakiya Muhammad Kerak First 1,336 25,580 5.223% 3.672%<br />
Suleimanal-Shamayila<br />
6 Adab Mubarak Tafila First 1,132 21,743 5.206% 3.111%<br />
Salih al-Sa’ud<br />
7 Rifqa Muhammad Kerak First 1,159 25,580 4.531% 3.186%<br />
Abdullah Dudin<br />
8 Siham Hasan Jarash 1,404 46,979 2.989% 3.859%<br />
Muhammed Saleh<br />
9 Fatima Abul-Hamid Zarqa First 1,924 66,790 2.881% 5.288%<br />
Muhammad Khatib<br />
10 Amina Issa Irbid First 2,224 94,578 2.351% 6.113%<br />
Khasawina<br />
11 Fayiza Abd al-Karim Irbid First 1,943 94,578 2.053 5.338%<br />
Naji a-Zu’bi<br />
12 Wujdan Muhammad The capital Third 1,211 66,094 1.832% 3.329%<br />
Yasin Khalil (Amman)<br />
al-Talhuni<br />
13 Nadia Husayn Zarqa First 1,171 66,790 1.753% 3.219%<br />
Ali Bashnaq<br />
14 Najah Abd al-Wali Balqa’ First 1,017 60,383 1.684% 2.795%<br />
Muhammad<br />
Abu Hazim<br />
Total votes obtained by female c<strong>and</strong>idates: 36,382<br />
Source: .<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
4.2. Women’s <strong>Participation</strong> in Parliament: General Evaluation<br />
4.2.1. Women as Voters<br />
<strong>Studies</strong> indicate that turnout by female voters in the last (2003) election, at 52 per<br />
cent, was very high compared to previous elections <strong>and</strong> higher than that of men.<br />
The increase was attributed to the law banning members of the army <strong>and</strong> security<br />
organizations—who are mostly men—from voting. This gave women more impact<br />
on the results from a quantitative point of view. The tribes were aware of this <strong>and</strong><br />
encouraged women to vote, albeit in the way that would secure the interests of the<br />
tribe’s c<strong>and</strong>idate, who was usually a man.<br />
4.2.2. Women as C<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
Table 1.4 indicates the most important characteristics of active female electoral<br />
participation, showing numbers of female c<strong>and</strong>idates st<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> percentages of<br />
votes obtained, in addition to comparisons with men’s c<strong>and</strong>idacy.<br />
Table 1.4: Distribution of C<strong>and</strong>idates in Parliamentary Elections, 1989,<br />
1993, 1997 <strong>and</strong> 2003, Compared to Total C<strong>and</strong>idacies<br />
Election Number of Percentage of Percentage of Number of Percentage of<br />
female female votes obtained winners total winners<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates c<strong>and</strong>idates by female<br />
to total c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
number of<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
1989 12 1.86% 1.01% 0 0%<br />
1993 3 0.18% 0.48% 1 1.25%<br />
1997 17 3.24% 1.6 % – –<br />
2003 54 7.06% 2.658% 6 6.5%<br />
Source: al-Quds Center for <strong>Political</strong> <strong>Studies</strong>, Information <strong>and</strong> Documentation Department.<br />
The table shows that the percentages of female voters <strong>and</strong> c<strong>and</strong>idates were<br />
highest in 2003, with the percentages of votes for women showing a noticeable<br />
improvement, reaching 2.7 per cent of the total. Excluding the 1993 election, the<br />
average for elections since 1989 is 1.44 per cent of all votes. The affirm ative action<br />
rep resented by the quota system had a positive impact on female participation, since<br />
no female can didate in the 2003 election won office outside the quota system; no<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
female c<strong>and</strong>idates were able to secure the minimum number of votes necessary to win<br />
a seat, although Dr Hayat al-Musaymi, c<strong>and</strong>idate of the Islamic Action Front, came<br />
close to winning enough votes. In other words, without quotas there would have been<br />
no female parliamentary representation in the 2003 election.<br />
4.2.3. Women as Politicians<br />
Jordanian women have been active in politics in differing ways, but a general<br />
evaluation of their performance in Parliament, the political parties <strong>and</strong> the public<br />
sphere has yet to receive sufficient attention from researchers <strong>and</strong> analysts. However,<br />
women’s political experience in Parliament has been closely evaluated, <strong>and</strong> in most<br />
cases there has been a focus on the negative aspects of this participation: it has been<br />
seen from a traditionalist moral viewpoint <strong>and</strong> has not been objectively evaluated,<br />
that is, taking into consideration both positive <strong>and</strong> negative points.<br />
One of the most important examples here is the experience of Toujan Faisal, the<br />
first female MP. Her first public political speech in the early 1990s was a reaction<br />
to various articles by Islamists criticizing participation by women in politics. The<br />
writers of the articles had argued that women were unfit for politics because they<br />
lacked the required mental capa bilities, <strong>and</strong> Faisal responded in provocative fashion,<br />
which became her stock-in-trade in dealing with women’s issues <strong>and</strong> arguing against<br />
generalizations. Faisal did not receive a specific response to her article until she stood<br />
for Parliament in 1993, when she received threats <strong>and</strong> a suit was filed against her<br />
in the Sharia Court, which ruled that it was unable to decide on the matter. The<br />
issue gave people the opportunity to become acquainted with Faisal <strong>and</strong> her political<br />
programme, <strong>and</strong> the general public support she received helped her win a seat in<br />
1993. She lost her bid for re-election in 1997 <strong>and</strong> continued to follow her old style<br />
of policies of attack as an opposition figure, but with a new goal this time, namely<br />
the govern ment. However, an article in which she accused some Cabinet members of<br />
corruption earned her the government’s wrath <strong>and</strong> an appearance before the Military<br />
Court, which found her guilty <strong>and</strong> ordered her to be imprisoned. After serving three<br />
months of the sentence she began a hunger strike, which became Jordan’s biggest<br />
human rights case. The country’s highest political authorities then intervened <strong>and</strong><br />
she was released under a royal pardon, although her application to st<strong>and</strong> in the 2003<br />
election was rejected.<br />
Toujan Faisal’s parliamentary experience <strong>and</strong> particularly her political experience<br />
have been closely evaluated. Most such evaluations have concentrated on the negative<br />
points <strong>and</strong> her strategy of attack, which was used as an example in evaluating the<br />
parliamentary experience of women in general. She was held up as an example of<br />
a female parliamentarian <strong>and</strong> as a woman who was not qualified to do such work.<br />
Although Faisal’s experience is often cited in analyses of female political participation,<br />
the methods <strong>and</strong> mechanisms she employed as a politician are rarely evaluated. Public<br />
morals <strong>and</strong> stereotyped views of the nature of women <strong>and</strong> the behaviour expected of<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
<strong>and</strong> imposed on them have played a large part in evaluations of her performance <strong>and</strong><br />
that of other new female MPs. However, the political work of women, such as female<br />
participation in political parties, where women have proved their capabilities, whether<br />
in the Islamic Action Front, leftist parties or even pan-Arab nationalist parties, was, as<br />
usual, absent from such evaluations.<br />
4.3. Politicizing Women’s Issues<br />
Politicizing is taken here to mean participation by women in activities that aim to<br />
transfer women’s issues from the private to the public realm <strong>and</strong> to regulate these<br />
issues, if possible. Politicized activities in Jordan concerning women’s issues range<br />
from discussing the issues in public, through seminars, con ferences <strong>and</strong> media<br />
campaigns (the most common form of political expression of these issues) to running<br />
national campaigns aimed at changes in the law <strong>and</strong> signing petitions in support<br />
of women’s rights <strong>and</strong> public participation—a device that has become increasingly<br />
popular recently. Women’s issues became politicized fairly early on, as mentioned<br />
above, with the dem<strong>and</strong> for an amend ment to the Election Law in 1956 as part of<br />
a national campaign that included petitions <strong>and</strong> writing memor<strong>and</strong>ums. No similar<br />
women’s activism followed until the 1990s, when a group of activists in human rights<br />
<strong>and</strong> women’s issues launched a national campaign aimed at limiting crimes of honour<br />
<strong>and</strong> amending the relevant laws.<br />
4.3.1. The National Campaign to Limit the Phenomenon<br />
of Crimes of Honour<br />
Activists in women’s rights <strong>and</strong> human rights <strong>and</strong> a large number of journalists <strong>and</strong><br />
lawyers launched this campaign, dem<strong>and</strong>ing that Law no. 340 on Crimes of Honour<br />
be abolished. This law pro vides a mitigating circumstance for a man who kills a<br />
female relative if she is involved in an illicit sexual relationship. The campaign began<br />
with a number of articles in the press <strong>and</strong> public lectures which discussed the social<br />
<strong>and</strong> psychological repercussions of con tinuing honour killings <strong>and</strong> the fact that the<br />
law provided an excuse for these crimes, which could be exploited in such a way as<br />
to diminish women’s rights. The organizers of the campaign then geared it up to<br />
gathering signatures <strong>and</strong> writing petitions, which were presented to the Chamber of<br />
Deputies <strong>and</strong> Chamber of Notables. The signature-gathering period of the campaign<br />
lasted for a considerable period of time, <strong>and</strong> about 15,000 signatures were obtained<br />
from around the country, before the Chamber of Deputies discussed the issue. Most<br />
MPs weighed in during what was at times a fierce debate on the repeal of Law no. 340.<br />
As expected, the Islamist <strong>and</strong> tribal deputies agreed that the law should be retained<br />
on the grounds that this would protect public morals <strong>and</strong> family cohesion. Many of<br />
them accused the organizers of the campaign of being tools of the West <strong>and</strong> Zionism,<br />
aiming to destroy the cohesive Jordanian family by destroying women’s morals.<br />
46
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
The enthusiasm of the campaign was spent in a relatively short time, but it was<br />
successful in raising the issue of the mitigating circumstances in crimes of honour<br />
<strong>and</strong> the lack of equality between men <strong>and</strong> women in the Penal Code. 8 Although a<br />
change in the law was rejected, it was nonetheless registered as part of those laws that<br />
discriminate against women. This has helped <strong>and</strong> will help in increasing the chances<br />
of the issue being raised once again, as happened when the Legal Committee of<br />
the JNCW pointed to the law as one of a group of laws that should be amended or<br />
repealed entirely.<br />
4.3.2. Women’s Reaction to the Failure to Amend<br />
the Penal Code <strong>and</strong> Personal Status Laws<br />
Jordan has recently made tangible progress in empowering women <strong>and</strong> boosting their<br />
par ticipation in public life. A number of laws have been amended after these changes<br />
were put forward by the national campaign against crimes of honour <strong>and</strong> the legal<br />
committee of the JNCW. These include the Personal Status Law <strong>and</strong> women-initiated<br />
divorce, the legal age of marriage, the Civil Retirement Law <strong>and</strong> the Penal Code. The<br />
following were amended on a temporary basis.<br />
1. Article 340 of the Penal Code on crimes of honour was amended in 2000 to<br />
include similar punishments for men <strong>and</strong> women.<br />
2. Personal Status Law no. 34 of 1973 <strong>and</strong> Passport Law no. 2 of 1969 were<br />
amended to allow divorced women <strong>and</strong> widows to receive a family register booklet<br />
(daftar al-‘a’ila) as the heads of households. If a man has married more than one<br />
woman, then each widow, with her children, is entitled to have a family register<br />
booklet. Also, women can add their children under the age of majority (under 16)<br />
to their passport without the father’s approval, <strong>and</strong> Jordanian women can receive a<br />
family register booklet after marrying a foreign man. The amendments have recently<br />
affirmed the right of a wife to obtain a passport without her husb<strong>and</strong>’s permission.<br />
3. The amendments have covered the Personal Status Law <strong>and</strong> provisions on<br />
divorce initiated by the wife, which for the first time give a woman the right to end<br />
a marriage if she waives the right to the husb<strong>and</strong>’s financial obligations, including<br />
alimony. The amendments also covered polygamy, recognizing the first wife’s right<br />
based on Sharia law to be informed if her husb<strong>and</strong> takes another wife, although her<br />
consent is not required. Another amend ment raised the legal age of marriage to 18.<br />
These amendments were adopted during a period when the Chamber of Deputies<br />
was absent. However, for the amendments to become law, both chambers of the<br />
national legislature (the Chamber of Deputies <strong>and</strong> the Chamber of Notables) had<br />
to approve them. When the newly elected legis lature convened following the latest<br />
elections, the Legislature (with both chambers) dealt with these temporary laws <strong>and</strong><br />
discussed the amendments, rejecting parts of them. The Chamber of Deputies opted<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
to discuss the proposed amendments early on, taking up the proposed changes to<br />
the Personal Status Law <strong>and</strong> the Penal Code at its third session <strong>and</strong> rejecting the<br />
amendments without even referring them to the Legal Affairs Committee, arguing as<br />
usual that they contradicted morals <strong>and</strong> religion. This rejection was met by reactions<br />
by women’s movement activists, who acted both spontaneously <strong>and</strong> in more studied<br />
fashion, holding a sit-in at Parliament <strong>and</strong> organizing dialogue with decision makers<br />
in both chambers of the legislature.<br />
4.3.3. Sit-ins in Front of Parliament<br />
Women’s organizations quickly learned of the legislature’s rejection <strong>and</strong> decided to<br />
exploit the opportunity for getting the laws passed, namely that the Chamber of<br />
Notables still had to discuss the amendments. Around 100 people held a sit-in at<br />
Parliament, asking the Chamber of Deputies to reconsider. Some members of the<br />
chamber responded positively, including the chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee,<br />
promising that the house would reconsider the decision. Another member listened to<br />
their point of view, making the same promise (Jordan Times 11 August 2003).<br />
4.3.4. The National Program of Action for Women:<br />
National Dialogue with Decision Makers<br />
The Chamber of Deputies’ discussions on amending these various laws related to<br />
women (especially the Personal Status Law regarding female-initiated divorce <strong>and</strong> the<br />
raising of the legal age of marriage) were not tense, <strong>and</strong> this appeared to reflect a kind<br />
of consensus on the issue. A number of MPs justified their rejection by saying that<br />
the amendments were an invitation to moral decline in society, <strong>and</strong> two newly elected<br />
female MPs also voted against, suggesting that the presence of women in the legislature<br />
had not changed the character of Jordan’s legislative body, which is characterized to a<br />
great extent by patriarchy. The Chamber did not change its view regarding women’s<br />
issues, which are still tied to personal morals, honour <strong>and</strong> the morals of society as a<br />
whole, for which women are held responsible. The same generalization can be made<br />
about Jordanian society as a whole.<br />
The National Program of Action for Women came about as a reaction to the<br />
Chamber of Deputies’ vote on the Personal Status Law, particularly that on femaleinitiated<br />
divorce. The JNCW organized a debate in cooperation with a group of<br />
women’s organizations, represented by the General Federation of Jordanian Women, 9<br />
the JNCW <strong>and</strong> the Jordanian Coalition of Women’s Committees, under the direct<br />
supervision of Princess Basma, the chair of the JNCW.<br />
The National Action Program’s work plan discussed beginning a dialogue<br />
with decision makers in the Chamber of Deputies <strong>and</strong> the Chamber of Notables.<br />
Although the implicit message of the dialogue centred on the Personal Status Law,<br />
the Coordinating Committee insisted, for strategic reasons, on entering into a general<br />
48
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
discussion of women’s issues <strong>and</strong> general developments in their situation. Discussion<br />
of the amendments came within this framework; <strong>and</strong> the Coordinating Committee<br />
took another strategic decision, namely to have religious authorities (officials affiliated<br />
with the Ministry of Awqaf (Islamic Affairs)) accompany them during their meetings<br />
in the governorates of the central, northern <strong>and</strong> southern areas, in addition to meetings<br />
with the Legal Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Notables <strong>and</strong> female MPs. The<br />
on-the-ground part of the National Action Program entailed dialogue with MPs,<br />
which took place during separate meetings around the country in which Princess<br />
Basma <strong>and</strong> representatives of local women’s organizations took part.<br />
The following were the most important points to come out of these meetings.<br />
1. The meetings expressed the importance of dialogue between the women’s<br />
movement <strong>and</strong> the conservative Chamber of Deputies; it was necessary to distinguish<br />
between women’s issues <strong>and</strong> issues of public morals, especially since the proposed<br />
amend ments were not anti-Islamic.<br />
2. A number of MPs who rejected the amendments did so because they saw<br />
others doing so or because they merely wanted to oppose the government. For<br />
example, the amendment con cerning passports was rejected not because it had to<br />
do with granting rights to women but because the draft contained other items, such<br />
as changing the procedures by which some MPs could receive diplo matic passports;<br />
the negative repercussions of the vote on women were not considered (Jordanian<br />
National Commission for Women 2003).<br />
3. The launching of dialogue produced an atmosphere of harmony for the<br />
first time among different groups in the women’s move ment, especially the radical<br />
elements. Although not all of it was covered by the National Action Program, the<br />
movement appeared to be unified in its positions, particularly regarding these laws,<br />
<strong>and</strong> seemed to be able to work together under a single umbrella.<br />
4. The meetings saw the movement break the self-imposed isolation from which<br />
it had suffered since its founding. Its policies <strong>and</strong> the issues it was defending allowed<br />
it to enter the realm of mainstream politics.<br />
The dialogue initiative also reached the Chamber of Notables, <strong>and</strong> specifically its<br />
Legal Affairs Committee, where the meeting took the same form as that mentioned<br />
above, led by the princess <strong>and</strong> including religious figures <strong>and</strong> members of the<br />
Coord inating Committee. The positive results that were reached were represented<br />
by the Chamber of Notables’ referring the law once again after approving it to the<br />
Chamber of Deputies, which in its turn referred it to its Legal Affairs Committee.<br />
This was considered a positive step, although the committee rejected amendments to<br />
the Penal Code.<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
4.4. Efforts Made to Improve the Situation of Jordanian Women<br />
<strong>and</strong> their <strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life<br />
The number of women’s organizations <strong>and</strong> unions has increased recently <strong>and</strong> their<br />
work has exp<strong>and</strong>ed to include a number of women’s charity associations <strong>and</strong> specialized<br />
organ izations, such as the General Federation of Jordanian Women, the Jordanian<br />
Women’s Union, the Federation of Businesswomen <strong>and</strong> Female Professionals, the<br />
JNCW, the Association of Women’s Committees <strong>and</strong> the Women’s Rights Forum.<br />
A number of these groups’ activities are characterized by wide geo graphic scope <strong>and</strong><br />
the considerable support <strong>and</strong> participation of many women in them, which have<br />
made them effective organizations, especially in improving the condition of women.<br />
They have con ducted intensive awareness <strong>and</strong> educational pro grammes covering all<br />
sectors in various regions, <strong>and</strong> particularly covering awareness of Jordanian women’s<br />
rights contained in the country’s laws, their duties, <strong>and</strong> the importance of women’s<br />
participation in parlia mentary life. They continue to carry out training pro grammes<br />
for women voters <strong>and</strong> c<strong>and</strong>idates to get them acquainted with electoral procedures so<br />
that they can develop the basic skills necessary for the elections. They also maintain<br />
contact with leading political <strong>and</strong> intellectual figures in order to open channels of<br />
dialogue with them, convince them of the importance of female electoral participation,<br />
<strong>and</strong> therefore gain their support. They build relationships with the media in order to<br />
wield influence in this area, so that the public supports the idea of seeing women in<br />
decision-making positions <strong>and</strong> opposes policies that are against women.<br />
Women’s organizations are active in every parliamentary election, developing<br />
programmes, training sessions, workshops <strong>and</strong> lectures to prepare women for the<br />
elections <strong>and</strong> train them in using the mechanisms that will get them into Parliament.<br />
This involves training them in how to st<strong>and</strong> for election, fund elec tion campaigns,<br />
locate networks of volunteers <strong>and</strong> administrative staff for their campaigns (including<br />
legal advisers, media officials <strong>and</strong> those responsible for volunteers) <strong>and</strong> deal with the<br />
media. Many women’s organizations have taken part in such activities, including<br />
the Jordanian Gathering of Women’s Committees, General Federation of Jordanian<br />
Women, <strong>and</strong> the Jordanian Women’s Union.<br />
However, the situation has not been satisfactory for Jordanian women activists,<br />
especially since some of them have stood for Parliament unsuccessfully. There is<br />
certainly a need to guaran tee better representation for women in Parliament <strong>and</strong> in<br />
politics in general. Many Jordanian civil society groups have taken up the issue of the<br />
repeated failures of female c<strong>and</strong>idates to win election; it has become the issue of the<br />
Jordanian cultural <strong>and</strong> female elite.<br />
In the light of these disappointing results, it became necessary to look into<br />
practical alternatives for strengthening female political participation. A national<br />
debate was revived on the quota system <strong>and</strong> its importance in boosting women’s<br />
participation. Opponents, who include members of the Islamic Action Front <strong>and</strong><br />
a number of women’s organizations, say that this will have a negative impact on<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
women, who represent 50 per cent of society <strong>and</strong> should not be represented as a<br />
minority. Supporters say that the quota system is the only way for women to win, as<br />
previous efforts have demonstrated.<br />
The Coordinating Committee of Women’s Organizations in Jordan, with the<br />
General Federation of Jordanian Women at its head, then became active <strong>and</strong> in 1998<br />
prepared a pre lim inary agenda of women’s priorities that stressed the need to set aside<br />
20 per cent of parlia mentary seats for women. Activists were able to gain at least<br />
15,000 signatures supporting this idea.<br />
4.4.1. The National Strategy for Women in Jordan<br />
Prior to the National Strategy, there were no women’s activities that involved<br />
planning, goals <strong>and</strong> continuity. 10 The National Strategy (for 1993–9) arose as a result<br />
of efforts by a number of organizations that set themselves the task of identifying the<br />
priority issues for Jordanian women. For the first time, experts sat down to discuss<br />
the most important such issues <strong>and</strong> exchanged opinions with a large group of activists<br />
in women’s issues <strong>and</strong> with rep re sentatives of govern ment organizations <strong>and</strong> NGOs<br />
from all parts of the country, as well as different specializ ations. The National Strategy<br />
discussed women’s issues in six domains: social, educational, health, economic,<br />
legislative <strong>and</strong> political. The most pressing political issues were identified as adopting<br />
policies of affirmative action, such as increasing the number of women appointed to<br />
decision-making positions. Although the strategy called for the parliamentary election<br />
law to be amended to include a quota for women, the work plan did not discuss how<br />
to go about doing this, nor did it define lobbying mechanisms <strong>and</strong> directions. In<br />
this regard the strategy remained somewhat abstract <strong>and</strong> removed from the idea of<br />
implementation.<br />
4.4.2. The Jordanian Women’s Document<br />
The document was a reaction to the 2003 parliamentary election results, which were<br />
disappointing for many activists in women’s issues. Produced by a number of human<br />
rights <strong>and</strong> women’s rights activists, it contained specific dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> sought to gather<br />
signatures to boost the document’s credibility. It contains the following dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
positions.<br />
1. The SNTV electoral system should be abolished in favour of a List Proportional<br />
Representation (List PR) system, which will lead to representation that is more just<br />
<strong>and</strong> contributes to Jordan’s political development.<br />
2. Electoral district boundaries should be redrawn in a fair manner so that the<br />
number of seats corresponds to the size of the population.<br />
3. No sex should be represented by less than 30 per cent of parliamentary seats,<br />
which is the figure Jordan has committed itself to internationally.<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
4. Restrictions on c<strong>and</strong>idacy should be lifted so that an individual can st<strong>and</strong> for<br />
election in any district without regard to race, denomination, gender or origin, based<br />
on the concept of citizen ship <strong>and</strong> the idea that discrimination contradicts principles<br />
of equality <strong>and</strong> human rights.<br />
5. Voters should be enabled to vote in the district they choose, as long as they<br />
vote only once.<br />
6. Jordanians residing abroad should be allowed to vote.<br />
7. Appeals against judicial decisions on electoral challenges should be permitted.<br />
8. The right of civil society groups to monitor the elections should be acknowledged<br />
<strong>and</strong> they should be encouraged to do this.<br />
9. Comprehensive judicial supervision of the electoral process in all its stages<br />
should be ensured.<br />
The document can be criticized for being too like previous memor<strong>and</strong>ums<br />
<strong>and</strong> agendas, <strong>and</strong> it demonstrates that the reaction by women remains unplanned<br />
<strong>and</strong> lacks con tinuity. It was a reaction to the 2003 parliamentary election <strong>and</strong> the<br />
dis appoint ment for women after the results were announced. Its discussion of women’s<br />
issues follows a long introduction that discusses the broader challenges facing the<br />
Arab nation, as if the editors <strong>and</strong> signatories were telling their readers <strong>and</strong> lawmakers<br />
in Jordan that the Arab nation is facing critical issues <strong>and</strong> priorities, such as Iraq <strong>and</strong><br />
Palestine, <strong>and</strong> that women do not forget this at all <strong>and</strong> do not consider their cause to<br />
be a priority. When will Jordanian women free themselves of the failure to consider<br />
their causes priorities? We should determine the level of priorities <strong>and</strong> not be ashamed<br />
to declare that the women’s cause is a priority as well, with a historical dimension<br />
longer than political <strong>and</strong> nationalist issues.<br />
4.4.3. The National Program to Support Women<br />
C<strong>and</strong>idates in the 2003 Elections<br />
This was part of the many activities undertaken by women’s organizations in<br />
prepara tion for the elections. Their activ ities before this election differed from<br />
previous activities in that they benefited from high-level coordination among a<br />
number of effective women’s organizations with wide membership bases. The JNCW,<br />
the General Federation of Jordanian Women <strong>and</strong> the Women’s Rights Forum began<br />
a national programme to support women in the elections, in cooperation with<br />
some universities, the European Union <strong>and</strong> the British Council. The programme<br />
comprised training sessions for c<strong>and</strong>idates, <strong>and</strong> workshops <strong>and</strong> seminars oriented<br />
towards university students, to raise their awareness about the importance of female<br />
political participation.<br />
This programme also constituted a qualitative leap for women’s activism in the<br />
political par ticipation issue: the fact that it reached out to the base <strong>and</strong> focused on<br />
female c<strong>and</strong>idates should be considered points of strength of the programme. It lasted<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
18 months, which indicates awareness <strong>and</strong> planning, although it lasted a limited<br />
amount of time, being connected to the parlia mentary elections, <strong>and</strong> was limited<br />
in its targets, focusing on female c<strong>and</strong>idates <strong>and</strong> university students, not the wider<br />
groups of women or society at large. It was also concentrated in large towns, covering<br />
only Amman <strong>and</strong> Irbid, which denotes a limited geographical scope.<br />
This discussion of the efforts made to empower women <strong>and</strong> boost their<br />
participation in public life brings us to the major obstacles that continue to st<strong>and</strong> in<br />
the way of these efforts.<br />
5. Obstacles to Effective Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Public Affairs<br />
Weak female participation in public affairs <strong>and</strong> the obstacles it faces have been discussed<br />
by observers <strong>and</strong> activists in Jordan <strong>and</strong> researched by a number of institutions, which<br />
have produced a group of studies on the issue. The study undertaken by the Center<br />
for Strategic <strong>Studies</strong> of the University of Jordan in 1996 found that Jordanian society<br />
continues to lack confidence in women’s political <strong>and</strong> decision-making abilities<br />
(Shatwi <strong>and</strong> Daghestani 1996), while its survey of the socio-economic <strong>and</strong> political<br />
conditions of the inhabitants of Jordan found that a third of Jordanian men do not<br />
encourage the presence of women in decision-making positions (Hanssen-Bauer,<br />
Pedersen <strong>and</strong> Tiltnes 1998). In addition, a number of workshops <strong>and</strong> conferences<br />
have discussed the impact of voting behaviour, tribalism <strong>and</strong> the weakness of election<br />
campaigns on the representation of women in Parliament <strong>and</strong> in politics in general.<br />
The general conditions of women outlined so far reveal a number of factors that<br />
play an important role in limiting or obstructing effective female participation in<br />
public life, <strong>and</strong> may overlap with the results reached in the studies mentioned above.<br />
However, the factors we now examine are relevant to the current situation, which is<br />
influenced by women’s political experience, <strong>and</strong> under the quota system.<br />
5.1. Social Obstacles<br />
As indicated above, the tribes, which exhibit a traditional type of culture, play an<br />
important role in Jordanian politics. They have succeeded in creating a framework,<br />
even though it is an ‘external’ one, that is modern <strong>and</strong> in harmony with the<br />
insti tutional develop ment <strong>and</strong> modernization that effective public participation<br />
requires. Family leagues have been estab lished <strong>and</strong> registered with the authorities (as<br />
charitable associa tions), which means that they have become institutionalized. Their<br />
internal regulations bear a considerable resemblance to the methods <strong>and</strong> mechanisms<br />
used by political parties <strong>and</strong> organizations, especially during election time. Tribes can<br />
put forward a certain c<strong>and</strong>idate for whom everyone has agreed to mobilize votes, <strong>and</strong><br />
they campaign among other tribes, especially the smaller ones, who do not have their<br />
own c<strong>and</strong>idates.<br />
Where the issue of women is concerned, tribalism continues to play an<br />
53
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
impor tant role. Some have given complete support to female c<strong>and</strong>idates (especially<br />
small tribes). On the other h<strong>and</strong>, many female c<strong>and</strong>idates have indicated that they<br />
have been subject to criticism <strong>and</strong> ridicule by tribal leaders <strong>and</strong> elders. The tribe has<br />
also played an effective role in determining the orientation of the female c<strong>and</strong>idate<br />
in social <strong>and</strong> political terms, as has been seen in connection with the politicization<br />
of women’s issues. Many female c<strong>and</strong>idates (especially the winning one) believe that<br />
they represent the tribe, meaning that they give up support for women’s issues so as<br />
not to ab<strong>and</strong>on the tribe that supported them or besmirch the reputation of the tribe<br />
they represent (as if they represent the honour of men in entering Parliament).<br />
In more general terms, tribalism is one of the areas in Jordanian life that have<br />
most steadfastly resisted change regarding women’s issues. If the tribes are compared<br />
with the Islamist trend, there are tribes that reject any public role for women <strong>and</strong><br />
prefer them to stay home <strong>and</strong> raise children, while the Islamist current, which enjoys<br />
stronger public support, does not reject a public female role so much as want to<br />
codify it.<br />
This leads us to analyse another dimension of the social obstacles to female<br />
participation, namely religion, which is the most important element (along with<br />
tradition <strong>and</strong> custom) in gender culture in Jordan. As has already been said, the<br />
(moderate) Islamist trend in Jordan does not reject the public role of women so much<br />
as want to control <strong>and</strong> regulate it. The Islamists’ policies on gender relations <strong>and</strong> the<br />
role of women are explained in their general programme; they call for the creation of<br />
a general framework that aims at regulating this presence by separating the sexes in<br />
the workplace <strong>and</strong> urging women to be more conservative in their dress <strong>and</strong> dealings,<br />
without making this compulsory. In this context, the misunderst<strong>and</strong>ings about Islam’s<br />
view of women <strong>and</strong> their public participation are a matter to which Islamists do not<br />
pay much attention.<br />
5.2. Institutional Obstacles at the Level of the Election Law<br />
5.2.1. The Election Law<br />
The Election Law itself is considered to be one of the most important indicators of<br />
the existence of a degree of par ticipa tion in power, but it does not always indicate the<br />
existence of democracy in a political regime. The current law has a number of weak<br />
points, especially when it comes to women’s issues <strong>and</strong> female participation. First, it is<br />
based on the SNTV system, which reinforces tribalism, which in turn supports male<br />
over female c<strong>and</strong>idates, regardless of their qualifications <strong>and</strong> com petence. Second,<br />
the districting system is unfair, as the number of seats in a particular district does<br />
not match population density, while the SNTV system limits the c<strong>and</strong>idate to his or<br />
her narrow electoral district, which reduces his or her political popularity. Third, the<br />
mechanism to determine winners of seats set aside for women is unfair: since the top<br />
six c<strong>and</strong>idates in terms of percentage of actual votes to the total number of voters in<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
their district are declared winners, this provision has limited the chances of female<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates in large electoral districts gaining seats in Parliament.<br />
5.2.2. Election Campaigns (Financial Capabilities of C<strong>and</strong>idates)<br />
Jordanian election campaigns can be characterized by their rising costs, which begin<br />
with c<strong>and</strong>idacy application fees <strong>and</strong> continue to funding the campaign, the staff <strong>and</strong><br />
the related expenses of ‘hosting’ or hospitality in meetings with voters. Experience<br />
has shown that women have less financial resources <strong>and</strong> are less able to fund their<br />
cam paigns. This is a real obstacle, especially in districts where campaign costs are<br />
high, <strong>and</strong> prevents women from reaching a broad base of voters.<br />
5.3. Factors Related to Women Themselves,<br />
their Qualifications <strong>and</strong> <strong>Political</strong> Expertise<br />
The historical weakness of female political <strong>and</strong> public participation has meant a<br />
weakness in their political expertise in general <strong>and</strong> electoral experience in particular,<br />
in addition to a weakness in producing an electoral platform <strong>and</strong> encouraging voter<br />
support for it. More over, Jordanian elections are based on services, a fact that again<br />
strengthens the tribal element of domestic politics. Because women have a limited<br />
presence in political positions <strong>and</strong> positions of influence, the belief that they can<br />
provide services is very limited as well. This works to the benefit of men, who through<br />
their work <strong>and</strong> political expertise benefit from a network of relationships that allow<br />
them to serve voters with ease, or at least convince them that they can.<br />
6. General Evaluation: The Impact of Female<br />
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Affairs<br />
Many people have researched <strong>and</strong> analysed various aspects of the democratic<br />
transformation in Jordan <strong>and</strong> the return of parlia mentary life, with political<br />
actors such as the government, political parties <strong>and</strong> civil society groups receiving a<br />
considerable share of attention in the pro cess. However, these analyses have for the<br />
most part ignored a basic dimension of demo cracy, namely gender. There has been<br />
no analysis of these political actors’ positions <strong>and</strong> pol icies as they relate to women’s<br />
issues or impact women in society. Policies usually respond to the situation of men<br />
<strong>and</strong> women, their needs <strong>and</strong> dem<strong>and</strong>s. If politics ignores the important fact that men<br />
<strong>and</strong> women have differing dem<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> needs, <strong>and</strong> that the impact of policies on<br />
them differs, then the extent of political democracy is open to question.<br />
The results of this study have provided a comprehensive view of the process of<br />
demo cratic trans formation in terms of the gender factor, <strong>and</strong> also allow us to evaluate<br />
the per formance of political actors in regard to their interaction with female public<br />
participation <strong>and</strong> the politicization of women’s issues, which necessarily affect men’s<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
issues, society as a whole, <strong>and</strong> the interaction of women’s issues with both.<br />
6.1. The Performance of the State<br />
Governments are considered to be the executive arm of the country’s higher political<br />
will. Because they are very concerned with Jordan’s image abroad <strong>and</strong> committed<br />
to international charters, which they have ratified <strong>and</strong> worked to implement,<br />
governments are more responsive to any change or amendment for the cause of<br />
women <strong>and</strong> are easier to deal with than the Islamists <strong>and</strong> the tribes, who dominate<br />
the political scene. This study has shown that there is good coordination between the<br />
government <strong>and</strong> women’s organizations in incorporating a gender-based per spective<br />
in the five-year development plan (for 1999–2003), which, if implemented, will<br />
be a real accomplishment <strong>and</strong> will secure new rights for women. Prior to this, the<br />
government was responsive with Princess Basma’s initia tive in 1994 to appoint 99<br />
women to municipal council positions; she has worked to boost female participation<br />
in this sphere. This initiative proved to be a distinctive achieve ment which should be<br />
added to the government’s record on women’s issues. So should the quota system <strong>and</strong><br />
the temporary amendments to legislation, which, had the legislature approved them,<br />
would have achieved a fairer outcome for over 800 pending cases of female-initiated<br />
divorce now before the courts.<br />
The state’s concern has also been manifested by the involve ment of members<br />
of the royal family in activities <strong>and</strong> efforts regarding issues that concern women. It<br />
began with Princess Basma’s chairing the national delegation to the 1995 Beijing<br />
Conference, which led to the initiative to form a number of women’s organizations,<br />
such as the JNCW <strong>and</strong> the Jordanian Gathering of Women’s Committees, <strong>and</strong> her<br />
participation in <strong>and</strong> patronage of their activities. Queen Rania has also been active<br />
recently through her patronage of the Sixth Regional Conference on Women, which<br />
convened in Amman in November 2002. She follows the activities that resulted from<br />
this gathering closely, <strong>and</strong> she announced the amendment of the laws on personal<br />
status, citizenship <strong>and</strong> passports at this conference.<br />
This increasing concern <strong>and</strong> close involvement in women’s issues <strong>and</strong> policies,<br />
despite some criticism that it represents indirect state involvement in the activities of<br />
civil society, has helped women’s organizations to coordinate, which was not possible<br />
until a short time ago, <strong>and</strong> direct their efforts in a more specialized fashion, at the<br />
expense of other political issues. Many continue to question how far these organizations,<br />
which sprang up after the quasi-official initiative of the princess, represent the women’s<br />
movement. They believe that the women’s movement should be completely independent<br />
of the state in order to represent the public <strong>and</strong> hold the govern ment accountable <strong>and</strong><br />
monitor its performance, as is the case in an ideal democratic regime.<br />
Although in the light of the analysis here the role of the state appears to be a<br />
positive one, it does continue to carry out some policies that observers believe limit<br />
the activ ities of civil society organiza tions <strong>and</strong> women’s organizations. The Law on<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
Charitable Associations (no. 33 of 1966), under which most women’s organizations<br />
are registered, is the basic frame work for the activities of most of them. It is an old<br />
law that does not suit new women’s groups <strong>and</strong> gives the authorities wide-ranging,<br />
if not absolute, powers to intervene in the activities, form <strong>and</strong> make-up of these<br />
organizations <strong>and</strong> to dissolve them if, in the opinion of the authorities, they are seen<br />
to have violated the very general pro visions of this law, which are sometimes subject<br />
to r<strong>and</strong>om interpretations.<br />
6.2. The Performance of Civil Society<br />
This section will evaluate the role played by a wide group of political actors—Islamists,<br />
tribal organizations, the women’s movement, political parties <strong>and</strong> organizations <strong>and</strong><br />
so on. Jordanian civil society has diverse elements <strong>and</strong> the political expression of its<br />
make-up is equally diverse. However, observers have noticed recently that civil society<br />
groups have paid considerable attention to women’s issues, <strong>and</strong> particularly pol itical<br />
participation. The past decade has seen a number of workshops, programmes <strong>and</strong><br />
activities directed at supporting female political participa tion, carried out by women’s<br />
organizations <strong>and</strong> those not representing women alone, such as research <strong>and</strong> studies<br />
institutes, in coordination with or funded by some international organizations. There<br />
has been a surprising inclusion of women in decision-making positions, sometimes of<br />
a sensitive nature, in one of the most conservative Jordanian civil society organizations,<br />
namely the Islamist movement (which contains moderate groups, such as the Islamic<br />
Action Front), <strong>and</strong> more moderate groups, such as the Islamic Center Party, which<br />
came to the fore after splits within the Islamic Action Front prompted the formation of<br />
the new party by dissidents. Both parties have emphasized moderation <strong>and</strong> including<br />
women in the decision-making process as strategies. Women hold six posts on the<br />
Shura Council of the Islamic Action Front, <strong>and</strong> one of them, Hayat al-Musaymi, won<br />
a parlia mentary seat under the quota system. There are three women on the Islamic<br />
Center Party’s council.<br />
However, is it sufficient to argue that internal divisions <strong>and</strong> the positions of<br />
the Islamic Action Front <strong>and</strong> the Muslim Brotherhood on political participation,<br />
the boycott of elections in protest against the Election Law, the image of Islamist<br />
movements after 11 September 2001 <strong>and</strong> the generalized definitions of terrorism are<br />
the main reasons for incorporating women in the Islamist movement? There are in<br />
fact two other reasons.<br />
The first is connected to the large-scale politicization of women’s issues, which<br />
has been under way for about two decades. A number of women’s organizations are<br />
pressing for amendments to laws <strong>and</strong> social changes for the benefit of women. The<br />
Islamists, who have their own agenda on women’s issues <strong>and</strong> their participation in<br />
public life, which is seen as a conservative one (separation of the sexes <strong>and</strong> limited<br />
participation for women in work, education <strong>and</strong> politics 11 ), seek to incorporate their<br />
own formula for female participation in public life. Their position is that, if there<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
are to be amendments to laws dealing with women, they should be introduced in<br />
the way the Islamists want <strong>and</strong> under their supervision. It has therefore become<br />
necessary to incorporate women in decision making so that they can, at a later date,<br />
implement or at least help implement the general vision of the party <strong>and</strong> the Muslim<br />
Brotherhood.<br />
Female participation here has been unexpectedly positive. Although it is still early<br />
to generalize about the results, observers have seen a slow <strong>and</strong> gradual appearance<br />
of an Islamist female discourse 12 led by the politics of Islamist parties <strong>and</strong> female<br />
activists in the Islamist movement. The new discourse differs from the patriarchal<br />
discourse in that it has trans formed the context in which women’s issues are discussed<br />
in the Islamist discourse in Jordan in general, from a discourse of morals to one of<br />
rights. Activists in this framework derive women’s rights from <strong>and</strong> tie women’s issues<br />
to the Islamic vision, which determines rights <strong>and</strong> duties for both men <strong>and</strong> women.<br />
If this situa tion continues at this pace, it will require the crystallization of an Islamist<br />
female discourse that could considerably help remove misunderst<strong>and</strong>ings regarding<br />
women, common among the public.<br />
In any event, activity by civil society in general <strong>and</strong> women’s organizations in<br />
particular directed towards supporting women <strong>and</strong> their political participation<br />
remains a discourse that is limited in time, place <strong>and</strong> the people involved. Although<br />
this generalization has gradually begun to lose its credibility, women’s organizations<br />
should still be aware of the risk of activ ism that is separate from general political<br />
activity <strong>and</strong> of the importance of coordination <strong>and</strong> joint efforts with other government<br />
institutions <strong>and</strong> NGOs in order to achieve more effec tive results. They should also<br />
be aware of the importance of getting away from the centre (Amman) <strong>and</strong> heading<br />
towards other parts of the country, <strong>and</strong> avoid an elitist, one-sided discourse in favour<br />
of one that is more sensitive to <strong>and</strong> representative of women of differ ing social <strong>and</strong><br />
economic backgrounds.<br />
The institution of the tribe <strong>and</strong> its representatives are the political actors in civil<br />
society that are most obstinately opposed to women’s issues <strong>and</strong> efforts to politicize<br />
them. The feature which Jordan’s two legislative bodies have in common more than<br />
any other is their tribal nature, which is considered the most effective <strong>and</strong> active on<br />
the political scene when it comes to meeting people’s interests. This in turn gives the<br />
legislature a service-oriented feature, which keeps the political–ideological discourse<br />
distant from the legislature <strong>and</strong> weakens the impact of political parties, which are the<br />
most important political institution in an ideal democratic context.<br />
Women’s organizations have been very dynamic in activities directed at women<br />
<strong>and</strong> differ ent women’s issues. However, these activities suffer from several problems,<br />
although this general ization too is gradually losing its credibility. They are ad hoc<br />
<strong>and</strong> limited in time, usually accompanying parliamentary elections (training for<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idates before the election, <strong>and</strong> discussion <strong>and</strong> classification of the disappointing<br />
results afterwards), <strong>and</strong> limited in scope, since these organizations need to go beyond<br />
the capital <strong>and</strong> target the rest of the country in order to enhance their credibility<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
<strong>and</strong> their ability to rep resent Jordanian women. Another problem is the limited<br />
audience for conferences <strong>and</strong> work shops, which are usually confined to a certain elite<br />
framework of intellectuals <strong>and</strong> activists in the women’s movement, sometimes going<br />
beyond this to human rights <strong>and</strong> civil society activists.<br />
Credit for all this goes not so much to the women on the government’s list as to<br />
some NGOs <strong>and</strong> quasi-governmental organizations, <strong>and</strong> it should not be forgotten<br />
that the work done here by the executive branch of government is easier than that<br />
of the legislative branch. Jordan’s highest political authori ties have long wanted to<br />
introduce radical changes to a number of temporary laws: the executive authorities<br />
have tried <strong>and</strong> continue to try to introduce <strong>and</strong> implement these changes, until the<br />
conservative Parliament rejected them.<br />
7. General Recommendations<br />
After this detailed presentation of the nature <strong>and</strong> form of female participation in<br />
public life, we arrive at two very central questions, namely, when will this participation<br />
have a true impact in society <strong>and</strong> in supporting women? <strong>and</strong> what roles should the<br />
various insti tu tions have here? To answer these questions, we offer the following<br />
recommendations.<br />
7.1. Recommendations for the Government<br />
1. The six-seat quota for women should be increased to the level that is used internationally<br />
<strong>and</strong> ratified by Jordan. There must be a substantial minority of women<br />
(20–30 per cent) in the three branches of government so that their participation<br />
can help to change the prevailing culture regarding the role of women in society <strong>and</strong><br />
their capabilities. This proportion is required in order to lobby for change. The six<br />
scattered female voices in Parliament today have perhaps worked against the interests<br />
of women instead of boosting their social <strong>and</strong> pol itical situation <strong>and</strong> empowering<br />
them. In the exec utive <strong>and</strong> judicial branches, female participation remains weak <strong>and</strong><br />
one of form only, despite the policies adopted by ministries <strong>and</strong> state institutions.<br />
2. The SNTV system should be replaced by a more just system, since experience has<br />
shown that the current system has not benefited women.<br />
3. Redistricting should be carried out in order to produce a more equitable result.<br />
While some favour a single, country-wide electoral district which would restore the<br />
lost political char acter of elections, there is still fear that this would deprive remote,<br />
non-politicized areas of the country of political representation <strong>and</strong> would turn<br />
them into marginalized areas. The political activity of civil society organizations is<br />
concentrated in Amman <strong>and</strong> a few large districts.<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
7.2. Recommendations to Make the Role of Civil Society<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Women’s Movement More Effective<br />
1. In democracies today, women’s movements carry a double burden in that they must<br />
target two types of organization in lobbying for women’s issues—the institutions<br />
of state <strong>and</strong> civil society groups. Women’s organizations must coordinate with civil<br />
society groups to work on certain issues, but at the same time they must combat<br />
the traditional, if not patriarchal, nature of these groups. At the same time, they<br />
must combat the paternalism of state institutions <strong>and</strong> incorporate women’s issues <strong>and</strong><br />
interests into their policies. This can be done easily through well-planned work that is<br />
based on the idea that the state is ready to cooperate since it launched the process of<br />
political development, which targets civil society. However, state policies on women<br />
require parties that support <strong>and</strong> justify these policies <strong>and</strong> suggest mech anisms for<br />
achieving them, in addition to the best ways of seeing these policies achieve progress<br />
socially, so that they can continue. Thus it is important to coordinate programmes<br />
<strong>and</strong> policies that acknowledge the fact that Jordanian society is conservative <strong>and</strong><br />
will respond more positively to policies <strong>and</strong> programmes that respect traditions <strong>and</strong><br />
religion.<br />
There is a single umbrella for women’s activism, <strong>and</strong> pro grammes <strong>and</strong> policies<br />
within the framework of the JNCW are finding society responsive for various reasons,<br />
but if this framework of action can be exploited to politicize difficult issues relating<br />
to women through a single forum that expresses the variety of trends in the women’s<br />
movement, then many programmes that go beyond this framework will succeed.<br />
2. More work should be done to prepare female c<strong>and</strong>idates before they st<strong>and</strong> for<br />
office <strong>and</strong> to prepare them politically, because women in Jordan generally lack<br />
political expertise, which can be gained by men over long periods of political or<br />
other participation. Women, meanwhile, have often avoided political work because<br />
it is ‘purely men’s work’ or ‘dirty’ in some way <strong>and</strong> unsuitable for women. We should<br />
concentrate on mechanisms <strong>and</strong> ways to politicize women’s issues, because female<br />
social <strong>and</strong> political activists lack the necessary know-how. These issues have not been<br />
priorities for a long time as they were lower priorities than many urgent domestic,<br />
national issues that have not gone away or will not go away.<br />
3. Civil society organizations usually lack sensitivity to women’s issues, <strong>and</strong> female<br />
participation in them is weak. In their continuing search for a more effective political<br />
role, these organizations ignore basic internal issues. They must create a specific<br />
mechanism, <strong>and</strong> affirmative action measures have proved successful at various levels,<br />
achieving qualitatively good <strong>and</strong> balanced representation, which will guarantee better<br />
democracy in form <strong>and</strong> practice.<br />
60
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
Notes<br />
1<br />
Public activity by women in Jordan has accompanied the sequence of political, social <strong>and</strong> economic<br />
developments that the country has experienced since it was founded. The first organized women’s activity<br />
took place in the 1940s, when a number of women of mainly upper- <strong>and</strong> middle-class backgrounds <strong>and</strong><br />
relatively high levels of education formed the Women’s Solidarity Association. This organization, the first<br />
organized women’s group, did not confine its attention to women’s issues on a direct basis; its activities<br />
were general in nature, as it lacked sufficient awareness of relevant issues. It was dissolved when it joined<br />
the Women’s Federation Association, formed later in 1945, under the influence of similar federations in<br />
neighbouring Arab countries, especially in Egypt, when activist Huda Shaarawi asked King Abdullah I<br />
for permission to form a women’s federation in Jordan. Among its goals were women’s representation <strong>and</strong><br />
the organization of women-related activities. Women’s activity at this time was within the framework of<br />
the state in one way or another. (For more details about the beginning of women’s activities in Jordan,<br />
see al-Tall 1989; <strong>and</strong> al-Attiyat 2004.)<br />
2<br />
Emily Naffaa is a former president of the Association of Arab Women in Jordan. See the interview<br />
published in al-Attiyat 2004.<br />
3<br />
There had previously been an Association of Arab Women in Jordan in the 1970s, which along with<br />
the Union of Jordanian Women was very active on women’s issues, exposing both to harassment. The<br />
Union of Jordanian Women, established in 1974, was dissolved in 1981 by decision of the Ministry<br />
of Interior. The Union then came back to life in the early 1990s under the name of the Jordanian<br />
Women’s Union. On 5 September 1981, the Social Development Ministry took the initiative to form a<br />
General Federation of Jordanian Women, to bring together all women’s charitable associations. During<br />
the second half of the 1970s <strong>and</strong> the beginning of the 1980s, some female members of the elite formed a<br />
number of associations <strong>and</strong> clubs, such as the Businesswomen <strong>and</strong> Women Professionals’ Club in 1976;<br />
<strong>and</strong> some leftist organizations formed affiliated women’s leagues, such as the Jordanian Democratic<br />
Women’s League, formed in 1983, <strong>and</strong> the Jordanian Women’s League of 1985.<br />
After 1981, the women’s movement began to think about independent action <strong>and</strong> national<br />
organizations of different kinds. Each group thought that it had the goals <strong>and</strong> vision suitable to form<br />
an umbrella women’s group in Jordanian society. In the 1990s, a new type of women’s organization<br />
appeared, characterized by its strength <strong>and</strong> activism, especially as Princess Basma supervised such groups<br />
(al-Attiyat 2004).<br />
4<br />
The Jordanian National Commission for Women was formed in 1992 by a decision issued by the<br />
prime minister as part of the Beijing Charter, which called for such a committee to be established<br />
in all countries, to function in an advisory role to the government on everything relating to women’s<br />
issues. The JNCW was not only tasked with supporting <strong>and</strong> reviewing govern-ment policies, laws <strong>and</strong><br />
plans in order to achieve the advancement of women; its task was meant to go beyond that, to include<br />
coordination with government <strong>and</strong> non-government organizations active in this domain to achieve the<br />
goals set down by government <strong>and</strong> non-governmental actors in the National Strategy for Women in<br />
Jordan.<br />
The JNCW is chaired by Princess Basma; its aims are to improve the situation of women in all areas<br />
<strong>and</strong> to engage women in national development. The committee developed a six-point National Strategy<br />
for Women in Jordan (see section 4.4.1 of this chapter). The section on politics advocates working to<br />
see women enter decision-making positions. A Coordinating Committee of Jordanian Women’s NGOs<br />
grew out of the National Committee to coordinate efforts <strong>and</strong> programmes. The National Committee<br />
61
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
recently produced an election guide booklet for women, containing information on electoral procedures<br />
<strong>and</strong> encouraging them to vote <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong> for office.<br />
5<br />
<strong>Gender</strong> mainstreaming is a process of several stages, beginning with gender analysis, which includes<br />
thorough review of the situation in the institutions targeted <strong>and</strong> the level of female representation in<br />
decision-making positions.<br />
6<br />
The Jordanian Gathering of Women’s Committees was formed in response to an initiative by Princess<br />
Basma, with the goal of gathering the energies of Jordanian women, organizing them <strong>and</strong> directing<br />
them to the effort to improve the situation of Jordanian women <strong>and</strong> making their role in society more<br />
effective.<br />
7<br />
An executive council represents all government departments in the governorate <strong>and</strong> is chaired by<br />
the governor. Its tasks include studying all issues related to the needs of the population in the area. A<br />
consultative council has the same tasks as the former <strong>and</strong> is also headed by the governor; it has no more<br />
than 25 members.<br />
8<br />
The Penal Code provides mitigating circumstances for the husb<strong>and</strong> if he surprises his wife in an<br />
illicit situation in any place, while the equivalent mitigating circumstances for a wife who surprises her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong> is restricted to the couple’s home. For more detail on the Penal Code see Abu-Odeh 1996.<br />
9<br />
See note 3.<br />
10<br />
In general, women’s reaction to their poor participation in public life has continued to be lacking<br />
where planning in concerned. A number of activities take place prior to or just after parliamentary<br />
elections, which are considered the central aspect of the activity, <strong>and</strong> no future-oriented planning takes<br />
place. For example, before the 1997 election, a women’s agenda identified priorities following those<br />
identified by workshops organized by the Jordanian Women’s General Federation. The agenda identified<br />
as priorities dem<strong>and</strong>s by Jordanian women for the period 1997–2001, the most important of which<br />
where political participation was concerned was the setting aside of parliamentary seats for women <strong>and</strong><br />
amendments to the c<strong>and</strong>idacy fee provisions in the electoral law.<br />
11<br />
Their ministers’ policies have shown this by requesting a separation of the sexes in workplaces at<br />
the Ministry of Social Development, which was headed by Yusif al-Azm at the time. The minister<br />
of education (al-Akayli) asked schools affiliated with the ministry not to allow fathers to visit school<br />
activities put on by their daughters. For more details, see Tariki 1995.<br />
12<br />
An example of the pioneers of this is Nawal al-Fa’uri, the first woman to win a seat in the Shura<br />
Council of the Islamic Action Front. She is a founding member of the Islamic Center Party, which split<br />
from the former group. She has been seen to pay great attention to the moderate Islamic viewpoint on<br />
difficult issues or those dealing with women, which are debated in public. She puts forward a moderate<br />
Islamist position by discussing the rights granted to women by Islam <strong>and</strong> getting rid of the ambiguity<br />
over women’s issues that is usually linked to Islam.<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
Appendix 1.1. The Amended Election Law for the<br />
Chamber of Deputies 2003<br />
The Law on Additional Seats Allocated for Women<br />
Article 1: This law is called the Amended Election Law for the Chamber of Deputies<br />
for 2003 <strong>and</strong> is read with Law no. 34 of 2001, which will be termed the Original<br />
Law <strong>and</strong> amendments, as one law <strong>and</strong> will come into force upon publication in the<br />
Official Gazette.<br />
Article 2: Article 2 of the Original Law is amended by adding the following<br />
definition after the definition of Electoral District Committee—Special Committee:<br />
Committee formed in the ministry by a decision by the minister according to<br />
provision 1 of paragraph C of article 24 of this law.<br />
Article 3: Article 24 of the Original Law is amended by adding the following<br />
as paragraph C <strong>and</strong> re-numbering paragraph C so that it becomes paragraph D: 1-<br />
A special committee is formed in the ministry by a decision by the minister; it is<br />
chaired by an administrative governor <strong>and</strong> has as members a judge named by the<br />
minister of justice <strong>and</strong> a state employee of at least Grade Two civil service rank. This<br />
committee’s task is to follow up filling the additional parliamentary seats designated<br />
for female c<strong>and</strong>idates, as according to the statutes of the system for dividing electoral<br />
districts <strong>and</strong> allocating seats in them, <strong>and</strong> according to the provisions of paragraph C<br />
of article 45 of this law. The minister issues instructions he deems necessary to specify<br />
any other tasks that are required by the work of the committee. 2-The committee, in<br />
front of the minister, takes the oath that is stipulated by provision 1 of paragraph 7<br />
of this article.<br />
Article 4: Article 45, paragraph 1 of the Original Law is amended by adding<br />
the following as paragraphs 2, 3, 4 <strong>and</strong> 5: paragraph 2: After the vote counting <strong>and</strong><br />
announcement of final results in all district are concluded <strong>and</strong> the results forwarded<br />
to the minister of interior by Central Election Committees, according to the statutes<br />
of article 44 of this law, the minister relays to the Special Committee the reports on<br />
these results. This is so that the Special Com mittee can check <strong>and</strong> review the number<br />
of votes received by female c<strong>and</strong>idates who did not win seats in any districts. Paragraph<br />
3: 1- The Special Committee determines the names of winning c<strong>and</strong>idates for seats<br />
set aside for women based on the percentage of votes that each c<strong>and</strong>idate receives<br />
from the total votes cast in the district in which she is a c<strong>and</strong>idate. The c<strong>and</strong>idates’<br />
percentages are com pared <strong>and</strong> the winners are the ones who have received the highest<br />
percentages in all electoral districts, regardless of whether the c<strong>and</strong>idate is Muslim,<br />
Christian, Circassian or Chechen, or a c<strong>and</strong>idate in a closed Bedouin district. 2- In<br />
the event of a tie, the winning c<strong>and</strong>idate is determined by drawing lots. Paragraph<br />
4: The chairman of the Special Committee openly declares, in front of c<strong>and</strong>idates or<br />
their delegates, the names of the winners of the seats set aside for women. Paragraph<br />
5: The Special Com mittee prepares a report containing all of the measures taken to<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
arrive at the result, according to the statutes of paragraphs 3 <strong>and</strong> 4 of this article <strong>and</strong><br />
refers it to the minister of interior. Paragraph 6: If a seat set aside for women becomes<br />
vacant, a by-election is held in the district of the member of the Chamber who held<br />
the seat, according to the statutes of this law <strong>and</strong> during a period no longer than 60<br />
days from when the Chamber informs the prime minister of this vacancy; c<strong>and</strong>idacies<br />
are limited to those females who fulfil the conditions of c<strong>and</strong>idacy in that district.<br />
Source: Jordanian News Agency, Petra .<br />
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<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
Appendix 1.2.<br />
Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Parliamentary Elections, 1989<br />
Name District Seat Number of Votes<br />
Aisha al-Razim Amman 1 Muslim 1,176<br />
Na’ila al-Rushdan Amman 3 Muslim 1,046<br />
Hayfa al-Bashir Amman 3 Muslim 365<br />
Jumla al-Nahar Amman 5 Muslim 702<br />
Dam al-‘Izz Shraym Amman 5 Muslim 262<br />
Dr Ayda al-Mutlaq Irbid Muslim 3,495<br />
Widad al-Shannawi Maan Muslim 155<br />
Nadia Bashnaq Al Zarqa Muslim 2,602<br />
Janette al-Mufti Amman 3 Circassian–Chechen 2,604<br />
Toujan Faisal Amman 5 Circassian–Chechen 1,328<br />
Dr Mufida Suwaydan Irbid Christian 3,817<br />
Dr Huda Fakhuri Balqa’ Christian 2,987<br />
Appendix 1.3.<br />
Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Parliamentary Elections, 1993<br />
Name District Seat Number of Votes<br />
Toujan Faisal Amman 3 Circassian–Chechen 1,885<br />
Janette al-Mufti Amman 3 Circassian–Chechen 854<br />
Nadia Bashnaq Zarqa Muslim 1,195<br />
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Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
Appendix 1.4.<br />
Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Parliamentary Elections, 1997<br />
Name District Seat Number of<br />
Votes<br />
Aisha al-Razim Amman 1 Muslim 774<br />
Fatima Hassuna Amman 4 Muslim 656<br />
Firdaws al-Misri Amman 5 Muslim 297<br />
Wisaf al-Ka’abina Bedouin/Central Muslim 67<br />
Samiha al-Tall Irbid Muslim 236<br />
Fatima Ubaydat Ramtha <strong>and</strong> Muslim 824<br />
Bani Kinana<br />
Sabah al-‘Anani Zarqa Muslim 654<br />
Nawal al-Mu’mini Ajloun Muslim 60<br />
‘Ajayib Hadiris Balqa Muslim 369<br />
Hafiza al-Mu’ayata Kerak Muslim 39<br />
Siham al-Bayayida Kerak Muslim 452<br />
Da’ad Sultan Al-Aqaba Muslim 142<br />
Toujan Faisal Amman 3 Circassian–Chechen 4,227<br />
Hiyam Kalimat Amman 5 Circassian–Chechen 867<br />
Layla Faisal Amman 5 Circassian–Chechen 888<br />
Emily Naffaa Amman 3 Christian 2,292<br />
Norma Shatara Amman 3 Christian 243<br />
Source: .<br />
66
<strong>Participation</strong> in Public Life <strong>and</strong> its Impact on Women in Jordan<br />
Sources <strong>and</strong> References<br />
Laws <strong>and</strong> Official Publications<br />
Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW), National Action Program,<br />
2003<br />
Law no. 33 of 1966 on of Associations <strong>and</strong> Voluntary Organizations<br />
Law no. 34 of 1966 on Charitable Associations<br />
Law no. 32 of 1992 on political parties<br />
Law no. 34 of 2001 on elections<br />
Ministry of Municipal Affairs, ‘Election Results of the 2003 Municipal Elections’,<br />
2003<br />
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Report on Eliminating All Types of Discrimination<br />
Against Women 2003<br />
Books <strong>and</strong> Reports<br />
Abu-Odeh, Lama, ‘Crimes of Honor <strong>and</strong> the Construction of <strong>Gender</strong> in Arab<br />
Societies’, in May Yamani (ed.), Feminism <strong>and</strong> Islam: Legal <strong>and</strong> Literary<br />
Perspectives (Reading: Ithaca Press, 1996)<br />
al-Attiyat, Ibtissam, The Women’s Movement in Jordan: Activism, Discourses <strong>and</strong><br />
Strategies (Amman: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2004)<br />
Hanssen-Bauer, Jon, Pedersen, Jon <strong>and</strong> Tiltnes, Åge, Jordanian Society: Living<br />
Conditions in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Fafo report no. 253 (Oslo: Fafo<br />
Institute for Applied Social Science, 1998)<br />
Naffaa, Emily, ‘al-Mar’a fil-Munazammat al-Ahliyya al-Arabiyya, Halat al-Urdun’<br />
[Women in Arab civil organizations: the case of Jordan], in Arab NGO<br />
Network, al-Mar’a fil-Munazammat al-Ahliyya al-Arabiyya (Cairo: Dar al-Mustaqbal<br />
al-Arabi, in coordination with the Arab NGO Network, 1999)<br />
— (Interview published in al-Attiyat, Ibtissam, The Women’s Movement in Jordan:<br />
Activism, Discourses <strong>and</strong> Strategies (Amman: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2004)<br />
Schwedler, Jillian, Don’t Blink: Jordan’s Democratic Opening <strong>and</strong> Closing, MERIP<br />
Press Information Note no. 98 (Washington, DC: Middle East Research <strong>and</strong><br />
Information Project, 3 July 2002)<br />
Shatwi, Musa <strong>and</strong> Daghestani, Amal, al-Mar’a al-Urduniyya wal-Musharaka al-<br />
Siyasiyya [Jordanian women <strong>and</strong> political participation] (Amman: University of<br />
Jordan, Center for Strategic <strong>Studies</strong>, 1996)<br />
al-Tall, Suhair, Muqaddamat Hawla Qadiyat al-Mar’a wal-Haraka al-Nisa’iyya<br />
fil-Urdun [Introductions to the issue of women <strong>and</strong> the women’s movement in<br />
Jordan] (Beirut: Center for Arab Unity <strong>Studies</strong>, 1989)<br />
67
Building Democracy in Jordan<br />
Articles <strong>and</strong> Papers<br />
Abu al-Sumn, May (president of the Jordanian Association of Women’s<br />
Committees), inter view published in the Jordan Times, 11 August 2003<br />
Nasser, Lamis (chairperson of the Women’s Rights Forum), interview given on<br />
28 July 2003, on the sidelines of the Democracy <strong>and</strong> Elections seminar that<br />
convened in Amman under the patronage of the Arab NGO Network <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>International</strong> <strong>IDEA</strong>, 28–30 July 2003<br />
Tariki, Lisa, ‘Islam Is the Solution: Jordanian Islamists <strong>and</strong> the Dilemma of the<br />
“Modern Woman’”, British Journal of Sociology, 46/4 (1995), pp. 642–61<br />
68
Chapter 1<br />
Huriya Mashhur *<br />
<strong>Political</strong><br />
<strong>Participation</strong> by<br />
Yemeni Women<br />
1. Introduction<br />
The issue of female political participation has been raised vigorously in Yemen,<br />
particularly after the April 2003 parliamentary election, when the number of<br />
registered women voters topped 3.4 million—over 43 per cent of the total voting<br />
population. Whether people supported or opposed the full involvement of women<br />
in politics, there was a general feeling that the votes of Yemeni women now had to be<br />
taken into consideration, as they could upset electoral calculations <strong>and</strong> tip the balance<br />
in elections. This is despite the fact that some continue to argue that the situation has<br />
not reached this level of ‘danger’, since women are still dependent on men, who direct<br />
them to vote in a certain way.<br />
This latter point is partly true. In the 2003 election, the women’s movement was<br />
clearly seen to st<strong>and</strong> by <strong>and</strong> watch as men mobilized women, even putting them into<br />
vehicles to get them to the polling stations to support <strong>and</strong> guarantee the victory of a<br />
(male) c<strong>and</strong>idate from a particular party or tribe. Men exploited women’s ignorance,<br />
illiteracy <strong>and</strong> low social status, as well as their inability to take the simplest of personal<br />
decisions, not to speak of decisions affecting public life.<br />
Today’s women’s movement, which is weak <strong>and</strong> fragmented <strong>and</strong> lacks creative<br />
means of competing, as well as any strategic vision, is trying to benefit from the lessons<br />
of the election. It is trying to improve its performance <strong>and</strong> methods of coordination,<br />
as well as to create alliances <strong>and</strong> networks; at least, this is the goal expressed by some<br />
* Ms Huriya Mashhur is the Deputy Director of the Women National Committee in Yemen.<br />
25
Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
of the movement’s leaders <strong>and</strong> activists, who are trying to overcome the problems of<br />
weak representation of women.<br />
Perhaps the National <strong>Gender</strong> Strategy prepared by the Women National<br />
Committee is one response to the problem. The strategy is making poverty <strong>and</strong><br />
female political participation into issues, strategic goals <strong>and</strong> priorities. The Second<br />
National Conference on Women, which took place from 8 to 10 March 2003,<br />
unanimously approved the strategy as preparations for the parliamentary election<br />
of that year were under way. Perhaps women wanted the conference to be a political<br />
demonstration that would draw the attention of highly placed decision makers to<br />
the size of the women’s movement <strong>and</strong> its impact on women. They may have been<br />
hoping to raise their level of political commitment, which could be expressed by<br />
increasing the number of female c<strong>and</strong>idates <strong>and</strong> supporting them in the elections,<br />
which in turn would boost their representation in the government formed after the<br />
election. However, the election results shocked not only women but also supporters<br />
of democratic development in general; rather than reflecting a democratic direction,<br />
they spoke of a reversal of the gains achieved so capably by Yemeni women.<br />
Women are aware that society’s negative stance towards their situation has been<br />
consecrated by the tribe, its value system <strong>and</strong> its negative view of women. Even the<br />
political parties, which society would normally depend on to promote enlightenment<br />
<strong>and</strong> change <strong>and</strong> which should be forces for renewal, supporting the building of a<br />
modern state, were also extensions of the tribe <strong>and</strong> of the tribal mentality that resists<br />
improvement in the situation of women, not only in political life but in general. This<br />
is no surprise, because there is an overlap between the institutions of civil society <strong>and</strong><br />
the tribe: some civil society groups have even come to represent tribal relations on a<br />
smaller scale, even if they do not themselves represent a tribe or tribes.<br />
The tribe is without doubt a fundamental part of the social fabric, if not the<br />
principal component in the social <strong>and</strong> political make-up of the modern Yemeni state.<br />
It makes internal changes in order to accommodate to the contemporary situation,<br />
but these changes affect men for the most part, <strong>and</strong> only rarely women.<br />
Experience has shown that legislation is not enough when it comes to improving<br />
the role of women in the political process, seen within the framework of the<br />
comprehensive development of Yemeni women <strong>and</strong> civil society. The situation must<br />
be changed by female leaders underst<strong>and</strong>ing their role <strong>and</strong> increasing their political<br />
commitment through a comprehensive view of how their situation can be improved,<br />
not just by symbolic solutions that may be an expression of good intentions <strong>and</strong><br />
positive policies but do not change much in reality.<br />
The study on which this chapter is based was carried out as part of cooperation<br />
between the Yemeni Women National Committee <strong>and</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>IDEA</strong>. It is a<br />
modest contribution to analysing women’s political participation in the Republic of<br />
Yemen, focusing on the unification charter, which opened up horizons for democratic<br />
action which include women, although only to a limited extent. The chapter discusses<br />
the difficulties <strong>and</strong> challenges, <strong>and</strong> seeks to ascertain the hidden strengths that can be<br />
26
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
built on in order to help exp<strong>and</strong> the basis of female participation. Finally, it sets out<br />
a supportive <strong>and</strong> encouraging vision for bringing Yemeni women into public life in<br />
order to achieve sustainable development, the fruits of which can be enjoyed by the<br />
whole of the society, both men <strong>and</strong> women.<br />
1.1. Summary of the <strong>Political</strong> Situation<br />
Yemen has seen a number of economic, political <strong>and</strong> social changes over the past<br />
four decades. Perhaps the most important were the revolution of 26 September 1962<br />
against the imamate in North Yemen, <strong>and</strong> that of 14 October 1973 against British<br />
colonial rule in South Yemen. The struggle of the Yemeni people led to its liberation<br />
from these regimes, which had obstructed its growth <strong>and</strong> progress.<br />
The 1970s <strong>and</strong> 1980s involved periods of conflict between the North <strong>and</strong> the<br />
South, amounting to armed confrontation in September 1972, February 1979 <strong>and</strong><br />
April 1988. Patriotic forces were able to contain <strong>and</strong> limit the effects of these clashes<br />
<strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>le them through dialogue; this was the correct approach, <strong>and</strong> the higher<br />
national interest prevailed as a result. Regional <strong>and</strong> international factors <strong>and</strong> national<br />
dialogue, which continued even during the fiercest phases of the conflict, led to the<br />
unification of Yemen on 22 May 1990. This was a historic turning point in the life of<br />
the two Yemens. Unity was an urgent dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> a noble goal which the patriotic<br />
forces had dem<strong>and</strong>ed.<br />
Naturally, unification was not an easy process, whether in form, in content or in<br />
approach. Some social <strong>and</strong> political forces that were hostile to the idea of unification<br />
or were encouraged by foreign forces sought to prevent it, to cause crises between the<br />
partners in unity, <strong>and</strong> to encourage the separatist movement in May 1994. This led<br />
to two months of fighting between the North <strong>and</strong> the South, which cost the economy<br />
an estimated 11–13 billion USD (Colburn 2002: 23); the fighting ended on 7 July<br />
with victory for the unified country.<br />
The difficulties that accompanied unification were compounded by political <strong>and</strong><br />
economic difficulties resulting from the second Gulf War of 1991. However, the most<br />
important direct result of unification was the commitment to democracy as a form of<br />
rule. This saw the promulgation of a constitution for a unified Yemen, ratified by a<br />
referendum in 1991; this referendum was boycotted by conservatives <strong>and</strong> hardliners<br />
who opposed a unification with those whom they regarded as ‘infidels’ <strong>and</strong> ‘atheists’.<br />
The first amendment to the constitution following unification came in 1994,<br />
after the end of the civil war; <strong>and</strong> in 2001 the constitution was amended again, the<br />
following being the most important changes:<br />
• the formation of the Shura Council;<br />
• the creation of the post of vice-president;<br />
• the direct election of the president <strong>and</strong> the extension of his term of office to seven<br />
years; <strong>and</strong><br />
27
Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
• the extension of the m<strong>and</strong>ate of the Chamber of Deputies from four years to six<br />
years.<br />
Although opinions differ as to these referendums <strong>and</strong> the many amendments to<br />
the constitution over a short period of time (which some saw as an attempt by the<br />
executive branch to increase its powers <strong>and</strong> reduce those of the legislative branch),<br />
the move towards democracy was inevitable. This was the view expressed by President<br />
Ali Abdullah Salih in an interview on the eve of the local elections in February 2001,<br />
when he said: ‘Democracy might be a bitter thing, but the lack of democracy <strong>and</strong><br />
retreating from it is even more bitter’.<br />
Article 5 of the constitution states that Yemen’s political system is based on party<br />
<strong>and</strong> political pluralism in order to ensure the peaceful transfer of power; the law sets<br />
down the provisions <strong>and</strong> other measures for the setting up of political parties <strong>and</strong><br />
organizations <strong>and</strong> the conduct of their activities.<br />
Article 41 grants each citizen the right to participate in political, economic, social<br />
<strong>and</strong> cultural life; the state guarantees the freedom of thought, expression, speech,<br />
writing <strong>and</strong> artistic expression within the limits of the law.<br />
Although in reality there has been no profound or qualitative transformation,<br />
these democratic constitutional principles are still a considerable accomplishment—<br />
at least in theory, since there is a political commitment to their foundations <strong>and</strong><br />
principles. Thirteen years of democratic practice is too short a time to allow us to<br />
draw conclusions; nonetheless, all these measures—a referendum on the constitution<br />
<strong>and</strong> the holding of local, parliamentary <strong>and</strong> presidential elections—were, despite<br />
their short comings, positive achievements both locally <strong>and</strong> in the Arab world.<br />
Yemeni women were directly affected by this positive political atmosphere.<br />
This chapter discusses this in detail by analysing female participation in public life,<br />
especially political participation. It will analyse the main difficulties <strong>and</strong> obstacles<br />
that prevent women from attaining decision-making positions. Women have held<br />
such high positions in the past: examples are Balqis, the Queen of Sheba, who ruled<br />
in the 10th century BC, <strong>and</strong> Asmaa Bint Shihab <strong>and</strong> Arwa Bint Ahmad al-Salihiyya,<br />
who ruled in the 12th century AD. Yemen saw prosperity during the rule of women:<br />
dams, temples <strong>and</strong> places of learning were built, roads were repaired <strong>and</strong> agriculture<br />
was improved.<br />
Even in contemporary times, Yemeni women have been pioneers in obtaining<br />
political rights, such as the right to vote <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong> for office, while their sisters in the<br />
Arabian Peninsula <strong>and</strong> the Gulf are struggling to secure the most basic of rights, such<br />
as the right to drive a car. However, conditions in the surrounding countries <strong>and</strong> the<br />
interactions between them may have had an effect on the situation of women in each<br />
of these countries. For example, although Kuwaiti women enjoy considerable status<br />
in the education sector <strong>and</strong> the workplace, they continue to lack political rights,<br />
despite an edict by the emir issued in May 1999. The United Nations Development<br />
Programme’s Human Development Report 2002 ranked Bahrain in 39th place out of<br />
28
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
173 countries, but according to another source it drops to 56th when it comes to the<br />
empowerment of women (Shihab 2002). Bahraini women were unable to make any<br />
gains in the local elections of May 2002, <strong>and</strong> in Qatar women also made no gains in<br />
the March 1999 local elections.<br />
The winds of change in the region will inevitably affect women <strong>and</strong> will lead to<br />
greater social development—a development that is needed not for external reasons<br />
but rather in response to internal needs <strong>and</strong> requirements <strong>and</strong> within the framework<br />
of the special social <strong>and</strong> cultural characteristics of the Arab–Islamic environment. This<br />
broader process of change will also improve human development <strong>and</strong> the situation<br />
of Arabs in general, <strong>and</strong> boost participation in public life. It is difficult to speak of<br />
public participation by Arab women, <strong>and</strong> particularly political participation, while<br />
Arab men also remain oppressed <strong>and</strong> deprived of their rights.<br />
In addition to identifying sources of weakness, this chapter aims to identify<br />
sources of strength in order to improve female public participation <strong>and</strong> empower<br />
women in a number of areas of development. Development has become an issue of<br />
life <strong>and</strong> death for many developing countries, including Yemen. This is clear from<br />
the human development indicators on Yemen in areas such as education, health,<br />
the environment, labour <strong>and</strong> political participation. It is hoped that this report will<br />
provide a modest contribution to creating a vision that improves public participation<br />
by women.<br />
2. Yemeni Women <strong>and</strong> Democracy<br />
2.1. Women <strong>and</strong> the Constitution<br />
Women have been affected both positively <strong>and</strong> negatively by all the changes that<br />
have taken place in the extent of democracy, which exp<strong>and</strong>s or contracts depending<br />
on local, regional <strong>and</strong> international conditions. The Yemeni constitution expresses<br />
the idea of full rights for all citizens, without discrimination, even if some radical<br />
feminists prefer to debate the impact of the lack of feminine forms of address in the<br />
various texts. In fact, the Arabic language is rich <strong>and</strong> much of its forms of address<br />
are general in nature, covering men <strong>and</strong> women, such as the words for citizens (almuwatinun)<br />
or all (al-jami’) or each citizen (li-kull al-muwatin), although there are<br />
exceptions where it is necessary for the language to be directed specifically at men or<br />
women.<br />
For example, article 24 of the constitution states that: ‘The state guarantees equal<br />
opportunities for all citizens, politically, economically, socially <strong>and</strong> culturally, <strong>and</strong><br />
issues laws to achieve this’. The words ‘all citizens’ obviously mean men <strong>and</strong> women.<br />
Article 41 says that all citizens are equal in their rights <strong>and</strong> duties, while article 43<br />
states: ‘The citizen has the right to vote, st<strong>and</strong> for office, express an opinion in a<br />
referendum, <strong>and</strong> the law sets down the provisions connected to the exercise of this<br />
right’. These provisions address ‘all citizens’, meaning men <strong>and</strong> women. Articles 30<br />
29
Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
<strong>and</strong> 31, meanwhile, address women specifically, mentioning their requirements or<br />
social roles.<br />
Article 30 addresses the state’s protection of mothers <strong>and</strong> children, <strong>and</strong> caring for<br />
young people, which gives women a distinguished role, namely motherhood, which<br />
is intrinsic to the very nature of women; <strong>and</strong> half of children <strong>and</strong> young people are<br />
of course female. Article 31 has provoked considerable debate; it is derived from a<br />
hadith (saying) of the Prophet Muhammad. The article states: ‘Women are the sisters<br />
of men <strong>and</strong> have rights <strong>and</strong> duties that are guaranteed <strong>and</strong> required by Sharia <strong>and</strong><br />
stipulated by the law’. Examination of this constitutional text, derived from a hadith,<br />
confirms that women’s rights <strong>and</strong> duties are equal to those of men. In Arabic, the<br />
term sisters (shaqa’iq, siblings) means taking care of their brothers, which does not<br />
imply a second-class status but bestows a great honour for a woman, as the sister of<br />
the man, who supports him <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong>s by his side<br />
The end of this sentence mentions women’s rights <strong>and</strong> duties guaranteed by<br />
Sharia <strong>and</strong> the law. The correct implementation of Sharia is in fact a quite sufficient<br />
guarantee of women’s rights, because Islam honours men <strong>and</strong> women, as demonstrated<br />
by the Quranic phrase ‘We have honoured the tribe of Adam (mankind)’. Women<br />
are especially honoured, having been humiliated <strong>and</strong> demeaned in many cultures <strong>and</strong><br />
civilizations at the time when Islam appeared <strong>and</strong> since. Islam prohibited the killing<br />
of infant girls, saying that females needed to be raised, educated, <strong>and</strong> consulted in<br />
private <strong>and</strong> public matters.<br />
The constitutional text that has sparked debate supports women <strong>and</strong> safeguards<br />
their rights. The real issue, however, involves implementation in Islamic countries,<br />
where customs <strong>and</strong> traditions are mixed with Sharia principles, the former usually<br />
working against the essence of the latter. Women are forbidden from inheriting,<br />
learning or selecting a spouse, although all these things are permitted by Sharia.<br />
To conclude, the constitution is free of any articles that discriminate against<br />
women’s political rights—with one exception. Article 107, paragraph E, involves<br />
c<strong>and</strong>idacy for the presidency of the republic: ‘The c<strong>and</strong>idate must not be married to<br />
a foreign woman or marry a foreign woman during his term’. This, however, is clearly<br />
addressed to men. The lawmaker obviously assumed that a woman would not st<strong>and</strong><br />
for president or reach this office. Perhaps this is attributable to the trend in Islamic<br />
jurisprudence that opposes a woman holding any public position: the presidency is<br />
one of the most important such posts. This is especially true in a country in which<br />
the extent of democracy is limited <strong>and</strong> in which most authority is concentrated in the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>s of a single person.<br />
In 1999 there was talk of a female c<strong>and</strong>idate, Ibtisam al-Hamdi, st<strong>and</strong>ing for<br />
president, but this came to nothing as no initiative was taken to complete the<br />
formalities for c<strong>and</strong>idacy. Nonetheless, the raising of this issue was meant to establish<br />
that women have the right to st<strong>and</strong> for president.<br />
Yemeni women have many concerns, not the least of which are poverty, illiteracy,<br />
<strong>and</strong> female <strong>and</strong> reproductive health. Reaching decision-making positions is a<br />
30
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
legitimate aspiration for them, but there are other positions women are struggling to<br />
attain, such as membership of the Chamber of Deputies, local councils <strong>and</strong> the Shura<br />
Council. This is not in order to gain social prestige but for the sake of the interests of<br />
Yemen women broadly interpreted <strong>and</strong> of socio-economic development in general.<br />
The principle of full equality of rights <strong>and</strong> duties is a human right that should<br />
be reflected in the constitution. Although this chapter will seek to avoid such ‘elastic’<br />
topics, it will touch on relevant issues as women’s organizations, such as the Women<br />
National Committee, along with its partners in civil society, should be dem<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
the removal of all discrimination from the constitution <strong>and</strong> the laws so that full<br />
rights are guaranteed for women. Moreover, affirmative action should be dem<strong>and</strong>ed<br />
so that women can overcome the social <strong>and</strong> cultural obstacles that prevent them from<br />
enjoying the rights that the constitution <strong>and</strong> various laws guarantee for them. There<br />
should be quotas for women on elected councils, such as the Chamber of Deputies<br />
<strong>and</strong> local councils, as well as quotas in the Shura Council, other government bodies<br />
<strong>and</strong> the diplomatic corps. Developing countries like Morocco, Jordan <strong>and</strong> Ug<strong>and</strong>a<br />
have implemented quota systems, <strong>and</strong> some older democracies, such as some of the<br />
European Union countries, have sought to increase parliamentary representation<br />
for women beyond the goal set by the United Nations, namely 30 per cent of<br />
parliamentary seats, which is considered one of the basic indicators of democracy.<br />
2.2. Women <strong>and</strong> Law No. 13 of 2001 on Parliamentary Elections<br />
<strong>and</strong> Referendums<br />
The affirmative action that is advocated here is similar to that applied in many<br />
countries in order to provide fairness for one-half of the society. This action becomes<br />
even more imperative in societies that are ruled by very conservative cultures verging<br />
on extremism in issues relating to women, for instance, tribal societies, which fiercely<br />
resist such things as modernization <strong>and</strong> urbanization. Yemen, as Dr Fu’ad al-Salahi<br />
points out, is ‘one of the countries that are characterized by tribalism, since tribal<br />
structures constitute the most important social formations <strong>and</strong> are not a mere sign<br />
of the past but continue to be effective <strong>and</strong> decisive institutions in various domains,<br />
including that of the role of women in politics’ (al-Salahi 2000).<br />
Article 7 of Law no. 13 of 2001 on Parliamentary Elections <strong>and</strong> Referendums<br />
sets down all the conditions for women to participate effectively as voters, making<br />
allowances for socio-cultural conditions (especially in rural areas, where it is not<br />
acceptable for men <strong>and</strong> women to mix). It states that: ‘The Supreme Commission<br />
for Elections <strong>and</strong> Referendum (SCER) takes steps that encourage women to exercise<br />
their voting rights, by forming committees of women to register voters’ names on<br />
voter lists <strong>and</strong> verify their identity at voting time, within specified polling stations in<br />
each electoral district’. The law could just as easily have supported women st<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
for election. In reality, however, the law supports c<strong>and</strong>idacies by men: the provisions<br />
made in order to accommodate customs <strong>and</strong> traditions <strong>and</strong> remove the difficulties<br />
31
Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
that discouraged women from registering to vote allowed competing political forces<br />
to benefit from the votes of women. At some 40 polling stations, more women were<br />
registered than men, according to an official election spokesperson from the SCER. To<br />
encourage women to vote, political forces helped to facilitate voting <strong>and</strong> registration<br />
procedures <strong>and</strong> organized means of transport for female voters.<br />
This raises the question whether it would be difficult to introduce legal provisions<br />
that will encourage women to st<strong>and</strong>, such as special women’s districts, the adoption<br />
of the proportional list system, or quotas for female c<strong>and</strong>idates who are unsuccessful<br />
in the electoral contest, as was done in the most recent parliamentary election in<br />
Jordan. The make-up of the SCER itself is not encouraging: there are currently no<br />
women among its seven members. In 1993, there was one female member out of<br />
17, but no women were nominated to the body for the 1997 election (which also<br />
saw a reduction in the number of members). The seven members are appointed by<br />
the president from a list of 15 names approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The<br />
presence of one woman to represent the now 3.4 million registered women voters<br />
would reflect the importance of female political representation in political posts <strong>and</strong><br />
institutions overall.<br />
2.3. Other Laws <strong>and</strong> Their Impact on Women<br />
At the end of 2000, the Women National Committee formed a team that was<br />
well versed in the law <strong>and</strong> Sharia <strong>and</strong> tasked it with examining the country’s laws,<br />
producing suggestions for amendments to the laws <strong>and</strong> regulations related to women,<br />
<strong>and</strong> participating in drafting this legislation (Prime Minister, Decision no. 68 of<br />
2000). The team studied 57 laws <strong>and</strong> 11 international agreements ratified by Yemen<br />
<strong>and</strong> connected to women, <strong>and</strong> concluded that most of the laws guaranteed equal<br />
rights in general, while some, such as the Citizenship Law, the Personal Status Law,<br />
the Penal Code <strong>and</strong> the Civil Registration Law, contained discriminatory provisions.<br />
It sent its proposals to the Cabinet <strong>and</strong> the Chamber of Deputies for discussion <strong>and</strong><br />
approval, <strong>and</strong> then to the president for approval. Five amendments out of 20 proposed<br />
were accepted, <strong>and</strong> the task was not easy, since the Women National Committee was<br />
obliged to hold a series of meetings with deputies in order to gain their support for<br />
the amendments, <strong>and</strong> to open channels of dialogue with certain decision makers in<br />
order to gain acceptance for the minimum number of these proposals.<br />
2.3.1. Suggested Amendments That Were Approved<br />
1. The Personal Status Law. Article 47 of the Personal Status Law (no. 20 of 1992),<br />
issued in a presidential decision <strong>and</strong> amended by Law no. 27 of 1998, gives a woman<br />
the right to divorce if she discovers in her husb<strong>and</strong> a repulsive defect, whether this<br />
was present when or after the marriage contract was concluded; the previous law<br />
discussed the defects of wives only.<br />
32
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
The Personal Status Law was considered to contain one of the most discriminatory<br />
provisions against women. Article 2 implies that women are a source of pleasure for<br />
men, <strong>and</strong> that one of the main purposes of marriages is to legitimize (halal) the<br />
woman to the man. According to Ali <strong>and</strong> al-Nusayri (1992), the drafters of this<br />
law used centuries-old terms <strong>and</strong> concepts that are no longer understood today,<br />
while some no longer have any legal meaning or were designed for problems for<br />
which science has found solutions, so that article 47 is no longer needed. This article<br />
lists madness <strong>and</strong> leprosy as possible defects in one of the spouses, <strong>and</strong> a series of<br />
sexually-related terms for a possible defect in the wife which are no longer used or<br />
even widely understood.<br />
Article 11 is derived from the Quranic text which says that a man may have up<br />
to four wives, as long as they are treated justly, but it does not specify the means for<br />
determining whether this justice exists.<br />
According to al-Susuwa (2000), articles 9–12, 14–15, 22, 42, 71, 136–137,<br />
149–150, 157 <strong>and</strong> 159 of the Personal Status Law should be amended. Al-Susuwa,<br />
the former chair of the Women National Committee <strong>and</strong> the current minister for<br />
human rights, writes that these articles must be made to conform with women’s<br />
changing needs <strong>and</strong> conditions, which affect their situation <strong>and</strong> that of their families<br />
<strong>and</strong> of society. Meanwhile the legal team formed by the Women National Committee<br />
suggested amending articles 7–9, 11–12, 15 <strong>and</strong> 47, <strong>and</strong> only the last of these was<br />
approved.<br />
2. The Civil Status <strong>and</strong> Register Law. Article 2, paragraph A of the law (no. 48 of<br />
1991) specifies who is allowed to register the birth of a child with the authorities. The<br />
mother is not one of these authorized to do so.<br />
3. The Law Regulating Prisons (no. 48 of 1991). The amendment stipulated care<br />
for pregnant prisoners <strong>and</strong> their newborn children; they should not be deprived of<br />
food as a punishment for rioting.<br />
4. The Citizenship Law (no. 6 of 1990). This law still discriminates against<br />
women who marry foreigners: their children cannot obtain Yemeni citizenship. Most<br />
Arab countries follow this custom as well <strong>and</strong>, except for Yemen <strong>and</strong> Tunisia, they<br />
have reservations about article 9 of the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All<br />
Forms of Discrimination against Women. However, some Arab countries have taken<br />
steps to guarantee the rights of children, such as the amendment that was approved<br />
in Yemen giving the child of a divorced woman who has married a foreigner his or her<br />
full rights, as if both of the parents were Yemeni. If the child chooses, he or she can<br />
take Yemeni citizenship at the age of 18.<br />
5. The Labour Law. An amendment (no. 45 bis) was added to the Labour Law<br />
(no. 5 of 1995) requiring employers of 50 or more women in the same place to<br />
provide a nursery for their children, according to conditions set down in a decision<br />
by the minister.<br />
In fairness, some laws, such as the Labour Law <strong>and</strong> the Civil Service Law (no.<br />
33
Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
19 of 1999), do give rights to women in their roles as mothers <strong>and</strong> wives, such as a<br />
five-hour working day beginning in the sixth month of pregnancy, <strong>and</strong> 60 days of<br />
maternity leave (90 days in the case of Caesarian section or multiple births); women<br />
also benefit from reduced working days for six months after they return to their jobs.<br />
The law forbids the employment of women at night, except during Ramadan, or in<br />
professions that involve dangerous or hard labour.<br />
Legal adjustments of this kind, taking into account maternity-related issues,<br />
women’s practical needs or the basic needs of the family, could have been extended to<br />
women’s strategic needs, such as opportunities to achieve positions of authority <strong>and</strong><br />
decision making. This could be done by providing opportunities in public <strong>and</strong> higher<br />
education, training <strong>and</strong> advancement, securing resources to let women improve their<br />
status in the family <strong>and</strong> society, <strong>and</strong> taking steps to incorporate women in public<br />
life.<br />
Women do not in fact benefit fully from the rights that are stipulated by<br />
the constitution <strong>and</strong> guaranteed by other laws. According to al-Salahi (2003: 2),<br />
‘Yemen’s socio-political structures have a negative legacy that prevents women from<br />
taking advantage of laws <strong>and</strong> international agreements Yemen has ratified’. He<br />
believes that most of the injustice is due not to the lack of laws but to the general<br />
socio-economic <strong>and</strong> cultural conditions; the empowerment of women will only<br />
succeed in an integrated, development-oriented <strong>and</strong> modernizing context that<br />
takes into consideration educating <strong>and</strong> training women in the necessary skills <strong>and</strong><br />
improving their health situation <strong>and</strong> general st<strong>and</strong>ard of living.<br />
This is helped by a political commitment, as another study by the same author<br />
points out:<br />
In South Yemen, which became independent in 1967, the state had an effective,<br />
interventionist role; it was committed to radical transformations in the situation<br />
of women. The state (according to its philosophy) committed itself to this <strong>and</strong><br />
saw the law as one of the most important <strong>and</strong> effective mechanisms for bringing<br />
about social <strong>and</strong> political transformation. In other words, we can say that the state<br />
viewed the laws as an important mechanism for advancing development. The<br />
Family Law of 1974, which granted women outst<strong>and</strong>ing rights that went beyond<br />
the social situation of the time, was considered a bold, unprecedented step in<br />
Yemen <strong>and</strong> the Arabian Peninsula.<br />
In North Yemen, where a traditional elite dominated the state, the state set<br />
down a number of legal texts, from the constitution to a number of other laws<br />
granting women a number of rights <strong>and</strong> exp<strong>and</strong>ing the scope of their public<br />
activity. These laws sought to absorb women into the workforce through political<br />
<strong>and</strong> administrative state posts; however, the traditional elite fashioned a cautious<br />
discourse aimed at women, as the traditional culture continued to limit their<br />
role <strong>and</strong> movement in various ways, such as the limited acceptance of women’s<br />
receiving an education or working (al-Salahi 2002).<br />
34
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
Table 1.1: The Most Important <strong>International</strong> Agreements<br />
on Women Ratified by Yemen<br />
Agreement<br />
Date ratified<br />
by Yemen<br />
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights 29 September 1994<br />
The <strong>International</strong> Covenant on Economic, 9 February 1987<br />
Social <strong>and</strong> Cultural Rights<br />
The <strong>International</strong> Covenant on Civil <strong>and</strong> <strong>Political</strong> Rights 9 February 1987<br />
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of 30 May 1984<br />
Discrimination against Women<br />
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial 18 October 1972<br />
Discrimination<br />
The Convention on the <strong>Political</strong> Rights of Women 9 February 1987<br />
The Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum 9 February 1987<br />
Age for Marriage <strong>and</strong> Registration of Marriages<br />
The Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in 6 April 1989<br />
Persons <strong>and</strong> of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others<br />
Commitment to the Beijing Declaration <strong>and</strong> Platform of Action September 1995<br />
2.4. Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Local <strong>and</strong> Parliamentary Elections<br />
In 1993, registered women voters numbered 478,790, or just 18 per cent of the<br />
electorate. This figure grew to 1,272,073, or 27 per cent of registered voters, in 1997.<br />
The increase continued <strong>and</strong> in 2003 the figures stood at 3.4 million women voters,<br />
or 42 per cent of the electorate. Tables 1.2, 1.3 <strong>and</strong> 1.4 provide details.<br />
Table 1.2: Numbers of Registered Voters in Yemen, 1993 <strong>and</strong> 1997<br />
1993 1997<br />
Men Percentage Women Percentage Men Percentage Women Percentage<br />
2,209,944 82% 478,790 18% 3,364,786 73% 1,272,073 27%<br />
Total 2,688,734 Total 4,636,796<br />
Source: Al-Taqrir al-Watani Hawla Tanfith Ittifaqiat al-Qada’ ‘ala Kafat Ashkal al-Tamyeez Didh<br />
al-Mar’ah [National report on implementing the <strong>International</strong> Convention on the Elimination of All<br />
Forms of Discrimination against Women] (Sana‘a, 2002).<br />
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Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
Table 1.3: Number of Registered Voters in Yemen, 2003<br />
Men Percentage Women Percentage<br />
4,682,048 58% 3,415,114 42%<br />
Total: 8,097,162<br />
Source: Yemeni Higher National Committee on Human Rights, [National report on Human Rights]<br />
(Sana‘a, 2003).<br />
Table 1.4: Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Different Elections in Yemen<br />
Elections C<strong>and</strong>idates Winners<br />
Women Men Percentage Women Men Percentage<br />
of Women (%) of Women (%)<br />
Parliamentary 42 3,140 1.3 2 299 0.7<br />
election, 1993<br />
Parliamentary 19 2,096 1.3 2 299 0.7<br />
election, 1997<br />
Local Elections, 147 24,864 0.6 35 7,032 0.4<br />
2001<br />
Parliamentary 11 1,644 0.6 1 300 0.3<br />
election, 2003<br />
Source: Yemeni Supreme Commission for Elections <strong>and</strong> Referendum, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2001.<br />
Three observations can be made after this analysis of women’s participation in<br />
three parliamentary elections:<br />
1. The steady increase in the numbers of female voters was not matched by an<br />
increase in the number of women c<strong>and</strong>idates; on the contrary, that number dropped<br />
from 42 in 1993 to 19 in 1997, <strong>and</strong> then to 11 in the April 2003 elections. Two<br />
women won election in 1993 <strong>and</strong> 1997 but only one in 2003.<br />
2. The number of male c<strong>and</strong>idates also fell, but not sharply. The drop in the<br />
number of female c<strong>and</strong>idates can be attributed to the negative stance of the political<br />
parties on this issue.<br />
3. Of the 11 female c<strong>and</strong>idates in 2003, five were nominated by political parties,<br />
<strong>and</strong> six stood as independents. All faced difficulties at different stages of the electoral<br />
process.<br />
The percentages of female c<strong>and</strong>idates in the local elections of February 2001 were<br />
also small, which does not give a positive image of female participation in Yemeni<br />
politics.<br />
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<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
The following sections of this chapter will deal with the obstacles to women’s<br />
reaching decision-making positions, <strong>and</strong> specifically in the Chamber of Deputies, but<br />
it is worthwhile to mention here that the overall drop in the number of c<strong>and</strong>idates <strong>and</strong><br />
the negative correlation between the number of voters <strong>and</strong> of c<strong>and</strong>idates, especially<br />
independent c<strong>and</strong>idates, is mainly due to the restrictions imposed by Law no. 13<br />
of 2001 on Parliamentary Elections <strong>and</strong> Referendums. Article 85, paragraph B of<br />
the law states that ‘for an independent c<strong>and</strong>idacy to be accepted for the Chamber<br />
of Deputies, it must be supported by at least 300 voters, representing most polling<br />
stations in the electoral district’. Although in theory the number of 300 supporters<br />
does not appear to be large, in practical terms it is very difficult for many prospective<br />
independent c<strong>and</strong>idates to achieve. (The requirement was a necessary organizational<br />
measure at the time <strong>and</strong> was due to the sharp increase in the numbers of c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
st<strong>and</strong>ing between 1993 <strong>and</strong> 1997. Some were not serious c<strong>and</strong>idates, as they were<br />
seeking rewards for dropping out of the race in favour of others.)<br />
The presence of women in the Chamber of Deputies is necessary to secure the<br />
interests of half of the popula tion, since women are better able to respond to the<br />
concerns <strong>and</strong> needs of fellow women than men are. Otherwise, how are we to explain<br />
the Chamber of Deputies’ passing laws that discriminate against women <strong>and</strong> detract<br />
from their citizenship <strong>and</strong> humanity, for instance, the Citizenship Law, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Personal Status Law, or the provision on the ‘submission to the marital home’ in<br />
the Appeals Law, which gave a judge the right to issue a decision that allowed the<br />
use of force to return a woman if she leaves her husb<strong>and</strong>’s home? (This law was later<br />
abolished after pressure from the women’s movement.)<br />
2.5. Female <strong>Participation</strong> in Government<br />
One woman was named to the Cabinet appointed in April 2001, as minister of<br />
human rights. The first female ambassador was appointed, <strong>and</strong> a female permanent<br />
delegate for Yemen was selected for the Islamic Organization for Education, Science<br />
<strong>and</strong> Culture in Morocco. In the Cabinet formed in May 2003, after the most recent<br />
parliamentary election, the media covered the rise in the number of government<br />
posts for women after their defeat at the election; the results were unsatisfactory for<br />
women, despite the line taken by the media. The female minister was replaced by<br />
another woman, who had been the only female Yemeni ambassador abroad.<br />
According to the Foreign Ministry, there are 105 women in the diplomatic corps,<br />
two who have the rank of ambassador but do not actually hold posts, two with the<br />
rank of chargé d’affaires, seven consuls, three first secretaries, four second secretaries,<br />
two third secretaries, 83 with the rank of administrative attaché <strong>and</strong> two with the<br />
rank of press attaché.<br />
Forty-six women work in the Office of the President, of whom some are advisers;<br />
seven have the rank of deputy minister <strong>and</strong> seven have the rank of ministry director;<br />
four have the rank of assistant director, <strong>and</strong> there are heads of departments <strong>and</strong><br />
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Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
specialized employees, <strong>and</strong> 14 directors general.<br />
In the media, eight women work as editors-in-chief in newspapers, compared<br />
to 55 men; most of them are in regional newspapers. A critical look at the work<br />
of women in executive positions shows that their presence is largely symbolic <strong>and</strong><br />
does not reflect the true scope of the qualifications <strong>and</strong> expertise of Yemeni women.<br />
Thus, there are increasing calls from representatives of the women’s movement <strong>and</strong><br />
advocates of modern ization for the representation of women to be increased in all<br />
political institutions to match their presence in society (in both quantitative <strong>and</strong><br />
qualitative terms) <strong>and</strong> their history of struggle, side by side with Yemeni men.<br />
Two women have been nominated to the Shura Council out of 111 members<br />
(1.8 per cent of the total); <strong>and</strong> during the preparation of this study (in 2003) three<br />
men were appointed to the council.<br />
2.6. Women in the Judiciary<br />
The Judicial Authority Law (no. 1 of 1991) does not distinguish between men <strong>and</strong><br />
women when it comes to the conditions for the appointment of judges to courts<br />
or public prosecutors’ positions. Article 75 sets down general conditions for these<br />
appointments, such as age, citizenship <strong>and</strong> a university degree in Sharia or law. In<br />
practical terms, however, there are many difficulties, such as the need to obtain a<br />
degree from the Higher Judicial Institute. Although nothing prevents women from<br />
being accepted here, there are many administrative complications <strong>and</strong> the institute is<br />
dominated by hardliners, making it difficult for women to enrol. No woman has yet<br />
been accepted into the institute for training in judicial practice. Before unification,<br />
South Yemen was a leader in the Arabian Peninsula in appointing female judges;<br />
one woman was an Appeals Court judge <strong>and</strong> others were named to Courts of First<br />
Instance, as well as a few female assistant judges. Currently, there are some 32 women<br />
in different positions in the judiciary, compared to 1,200 men; there are 53 female<br />
lawyers <strong>and</strong> 650 male lawyers in this profession, according to the Bar Association.<br />
In 2000, a female police force was established, <strong>and</strong> the first group of trainees<br />
comprised 500 women carrying out peacekeeping duties (United Nations Human<br />
Development Programme 2002). Prior to unification, women had served in South<br />
Yemen’s military, as well as the security organizations, the defence establishment <strong>and</strong><br />
the police, <strong>and</strong> some of them held high rank.<br />
2.7. Women <strong>and</strong> Civil Society<br />
The 1940s <strong>and</strong> 1950s saw the beginnings of Yemen civil society in the shape of<br />
associations that represented the interests of certain groups, <strong>and</strong> of charitable<br />
organizations, whose activities centred on charitable projects to serve the people of<br />
certain regions. This was followed by the emergence of national organizations that<br />
opposed the rule of the imam in the North <strong>and</strong> the colonial regime in the South.<br />
38
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
They were illegal <strong>and</strong> their activities were cl<strong>and</strong>estine. The real emergence of civil<br />
society began with unification, which provided a legal <strong>and</strong> legitimate cover for civil<br />
society organizations: article 58 of the constitution gave people the right to organize<br />
politically, culturally <strong>and</strong> professionally. The state guaranteed this right <strong>and</strong> was<br />
obliged to take all necessary measures to allow citizens to exercise it.<br />
The Law on Civil Institutions <strong>and</strong> Associations (no. 1 of 2001) was issued.<br />
A survey in 2001 by the Ministry of Labour <strong>and</strong> Social Affair, covering 1,692<br />
associations, showed that female representation on their administrative boards was<br />
very small. Of these associations, 87 were specialized in women’s issues.<br />
2.7.1. Women’s Membership in Non-governmental Organizations<br />
<strong>and</strong> Associations<br />
Table 1.5: Female Membership in Non-governmental Organizations<br />
<strong>and</strong> Associations<br />
Position Men Women Total Percentage of<br />
women (%)<br />
Members of 132,550 25,865 158,415 16.3<br />
general assemblies<br />
Members of 6,865 991 7,856 12.6<br />
administrative boards<br />
Members of monitoring 2590 332 2,992 11.1<br />
<strong>and</strong> supervisory committees<br />
Heads of 743 101 844 11.9<br />
administrative boards<br />
General secretaries 739 105 844 12.4<br />
Financial officers 738 106 844 12.5<br />
Source: Yemeni Ministry of Labour <strong>and</strong> Social Affairs, [Field survey of civil organizations 2001].<br />
2.7.2. Women in the Labour Unions<br />
Because the level of industrial activity in Yemen is low <strong>and</strong> an effective labour<br />
movement is lacking, even in the services sector <strong>and</strong> education, it has been difficult<br />
for labour unions to do a better job when it comes to defending the rights of their<br />
members. They are accused of being divided <strong>and</strong> politicized. Women’s participation<br />
in labour unions is limited; they hold only 15 per cent of leadership positions. On<br />
the Central Council of the Labour Federation of the republic (the lowest leadership<br />
body in the Yemeni labour movement), only 10 per cent of the members (11 out of<br />
39
Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
115) are women. There are no women on the Executive Board, the highest leadership<br />
body. This is not really a surprise if we bear in mind that women make up only<br />
23 per cent of the workforce, <strong>and</strong> about 80 per cent of them are in agriculture<br />
<strong>and</strong> outside a regulated sector; they are often unpaid because the work involves a<br />
family enterprise working to meet the family’s needs. In the agricultural sector, the<br />
Cooperative Federation makes only modest efforts to organize female peasants so that<br />
they can benefit from services such as training, credit <strong>and</strong> marketing—from which<br />
men benefit, because women here do not work on a cash or money basis <strong>and</strong> because<br />
they do not belong to the Cooperative Federation.<br />
2.7.3. Women in <strong>Political</strong> Parties<br />
<strong>Political</strong> parties are concerned with the size of their memberships because this is a basic<br />
indicator of their influence <strong>and</strong> political weight, <strong>and</strong> they are even more concerned<br />
with female members. Article 14, paragraph B of Law no. 66 of 1991 on <strong>Political</strong><br />
Parties <strong>and</strong> Organizations says that a party or organization must have at least 2,500<br />
members in order to apply for licensing. The founding memberships of five major<br />
parties had a total of 12,975 individuals. Of these, 259 were women: 37 of them are<br />
in the General People’s Congress (GPC), 20 in the Yemeni Gathering for Reform<br />
(Islah), 78 in the Arab Baath Socialist Party, 48 in the Nasserite Unionist Organization<br />
(NUO) <strong>and</strong> 30 in the Democratic Nasserite Party. Women hold between 5 <strong>and</strong> 14 per<br />
cent of higher party leadership positions in four major parties, as table 1.6 shows.<br />
Table 1.6: Women in <strong>Political</strong> Party Leadership Positions, 2000<br />
Party Governing Body Men Women Total Percentage of<br />
Women (%)<br />
General General 19 1 20 5<br />
Popular<br />
Committee<br />
Congress <strong>Political</strong><br />
Yemeni Socialist Bureau 25 4 29 14<br />
Party<br />
Nasserite General 14 1 15 7<br />
Unionist<br />
Organization<br />
Secretariat<br />
Rabita Party Executive 20 2 22 9<br />
Committee<br />
Total 78 8 86 9<br />
Source: Republic of Yemen, Annual Strategic Report for Yemen, 2000.<br />
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<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
The number of women in lower leadership bodies increases in absolute terms,<br />
but their percentage drops because the number of men at this level is greater, as table<br />
1.7 shows.<br />
Table 1.7: Women in <strong>Political</strong> Party Leadership Positions, 2003<br />
Party Governing Body Men Women Total Percentage of<br />
Women (%)<br />
General Permanent 665 35 700 5<br />
Popular<br />
Committee<br />
Congress<br />
Yemeni Shura Council 153 7 160 4<br />
Gathering for<br />
Reform (Islah)<br />
Yemeni Socialist Central 150 33 183 18<br />
Party<br />
Committee<br />
Nasserite Central 70 4 74 5<br />
Unionist Committee<br />
Organization<br />
Total 1,145 79 1,224 6.4<br />
Source: Women National Committee, Annual Report on the Situation of Women in Yemen, 2003.<br />
One of the reasons for the low share of women members in political parties may<br />
be that women themselves <strong>and</strong> society in general view political work as a purely<br />
male domain, fraught with dangers. Moreover, women may feel that their presence<br />
in parties is useless because they are not entrusted with important duties, except for<br />
mobilizing other women <strong>and</strong> other work that comes up at election time. Parties also<br />
try to improve their democratic image by having women members. As noted above,<br />
women are effective when it comes to reaching a wide base of female voters, especially<br />
in a society that does not permit the free mixing of the sexes.<br />
Women, including those in political parties, complained about the lack of<br />
financial or moral support for them in the most recent parliamentary election in April<br />
2003. These complaints were aired at the Second National Conference on Women<br />
(8–10 March 2003). The complaints continued; leading members of society, such<br />
as sheikhs, notables, relatives <strong>and</strong> family, fiercely opposed activity by women. There<br />
was also opposition to a stronger female role from the political parties, although in<br />
hidden form, since to express this opposition openly would damage their credibility<br />
with voters. Instead, the parties used indirect methods to pressure female c<strong>and</strong>idates<br />
or failed to support them. The position of the parties was clearly reflected in the<br />
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Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
preparations for the election; they did not nominate female members for main<br />
supervisory committees, under the pretext that it would be difficult for women to<br />
move between different polling stations.<br />
Moreover, only five female c<strong>and</strong>idates were put forward by political parties. The<br />
GPC (the ruling party <strong>and</strong> the country’s biggest) had only one female c<strong>and</strong>idate<br />
in 2003. In the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) before<br />
unification, in the 1983 election, the ruling Yemen Socialist Party (YPS) had 34 women<br />
out of 305 local council members (11 per cent). In 1986, ten women were selected<br />
for the Higher People’s Council out of 111 members, or 9 per cent. By contrast, in<br />
the 2003 election, the YSP’ position retreated significantly: it only put forward two<br />
women c<strong>and</strong>idates <strong>and</strong> opposed the c<strong>and</strong>idacy of one of its female members in Aden.<br />
She resigned <strong>and</strong> stood as an independent.<br />
In northern areas (the former Yemen Arab Republic), the 1982 National Covenant<br />
affirmed the right of women to vote <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong> for office. A number of women ran in<br />
elections, but all unsuccessfully. In elections for the 159-member Shura Council in<br />
1988, women were allowed to vote but not to st<strong>and</strong>.<br />
Most parties’ political platforms included no specific positions or commitments<br />
to help women enter Parliament. Some included only vague expressions that did not<br />
express true political commitment <strong>and</strong> were designed only to avoid losing women’s<br />
votes, women voters having become a key electoral consideration as they numbered<br />
nearly as many as men voters (women now account for 43 per cent of the electorate).<br />
The proof of this is the number of female c<strong>and</strong>idates put up by the parties <strong>and</strong> the<br />
lack of support for women in leadership positions. In fairness some smaller parties<br />
did take up the cause of nominating women, but they were not strong enough to<br />
effect any change.<br />
Seven political parties, in response to a request by the president for a national<br />
effort to respect democracy <strong>and</strong> prevent any type of violence, signed an agreement<br />
pledging to ensure a peaceful election process. The 32-point agree ment amounted to<br />
a code of honour <strong>and</strong> included a general expression of support for women’s c<strong>and</strong>idacy.<br />
The parties, however, were not interested in the issue of support for female c<strong>and</strong>idates.<br />
The weakness <strong>and</strong> fragmented nature of the women’s movement, which was unable<br />
to form alliances <strong>and</strong> put pressure on the parties, was partly the cause of this. The<br />
Women National Committee was unable to achieve much, despite the considerable<br />
efforts made by the media <strong>and</strong> the heroic efforts made to open channels of dialogue<br />
with key figures that have the power to effect change, such as the president, the prime<br />
minister <strong>and</strong> the leaderships of influential political parties.<br />
This document reflected the vagueness of the parties’ political programmes <strong>and</strong><br />
failed to make much impact, even though the c<strong>and</strong>idacy of women was a highly topical<br />
issue. The statement of support expressed political commitment <strong>and</strong> the credibility<br />
of these parties in dealing with one of the goals <strong>and</strong> aspirations of Yemeni women,<br />
namely to reach the most important centre of decision making. It mentioned support<br />
for the c<strong>and</strong>idacy of Yemeni women <strong>and</strong> their right to exercise their constitutional,<br />
42
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
political <strong>and</strong> social rights fully <strong>and</strong> without discrimination, according to the statutes<br />
of Sharia. Yet Yemeni women did not need this fine expression, repeated so often, on<br />
the eve of the election; it was expected that the parties would issue a clearer position<br />
of support for the c<strong>and</strong>idacy of women in this election.<br />
The women’s movement has yet to recover from the disastrous results for women<br />
of the 2003 election. It is now trying to benefit from the lessons of the election,<br />
to draft a new, coherent strategy <strong>and</strong> to build alliances for the coming years, in<br />
preparation for the next parliamentary election in 2009. Prior to this, local elections<br />
will take place in early 2006, <strong>and</strong> proper preparation is needed in order to increase<br />
the representation of women.<br />
3. The Most Important Institutional Mechanisms<br />
for Women’s Development<br />
3.1. The Yemeni Women National Committee<br />
This body, set up by Cabinet Decision no. 97 of 1996, expressed the government’s<br />
commitment in direct response to the call of the 1995 Fourth <strong>International</strong> Conference<br />
on Women in Beijing for national institutional mechanisms to be created to improve<br />
the condition of women. To improve its effective ness, it was later reconstituted by a<br />
decision of the prime minister (no. 68 of 2000). A Higher Committee for Women,<br />
chaired by the prime minister, was created, with all the directors of women-related<br />
government institutions as members. Some representatives of civil society groups<br />
active in the field of women’s development were also included on the committee.<br />
These include the Women’s <strong>Studies</strong> Center at the University of Sana‘a, the Federation<br />
of Yemeni Women, the Educational Research <strong>and</strong> Development Center, the General<br />
Organization for Insurance <strong>and</strong> Salaries, the Bar Association, the National Development<br />
Fund, the Yemeni Association of Family Care, the Association for Challenging<br />
Disabilities, the Popular Charitable Association, the Charitable Association of Social<br />
Reform, the Scouting Association, the Association of Business women, the General<br />
Federation of Workers’ Unions, <strong>and</strong> the Agricultural Cooperative Federation.<br />
The committee has branches in all the governorates, run by female coordinators,<br />
in order to follow up women’s develop ment issues at the level of the governorate <strong>and</strong><br />
represent the committee in the governorates’ executive bureaus. Its work involves<br />
cooperation with national <strong>and</strong> regional government institutions, inter national<br />
inter governmental organizations, <strong>and</strong> non-governmental organizations (NGOs)<br />
working for the development of women <strong>and</strong> improving their conditions in different<br />
political, economic, educational <strong>and</strong> health areas.<br />
The most important tasks of the Women National Committee are:<br />
• to propose development policies <strong>and</strong> strategies to improve the situation of<br />
43
Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
Yemeni women;<br />
• to coordinate with national government <strong>and</strong> non-governmental bodies to<br />
guarantee that these development policies are reflected in their plans <strong>and</strong><br />
programmes;<br />
• to prepare the necessary proposals to amend laws, policies <strong>and</strong> regulations<br />
connected to women <strong>and</strong> participate in drafting these items;<br />
• to universalize legislation connected to women <strong>and</strong> women’s rights;<br />
• to work to spread awareness of the law;<br />
• to coordinate with government <strong>and</strong> non-governmental bodies <strong>and</strong> donors on<br />
women’s issues;<br />
• to produce studies, research, surveys <strong>and</strong> statistics connected with women’s<br />
issues;<br />
• to prepare reports on the progress made in improving the situation of women;<br />
• to prepare <strong>and</strong> organize conferences, seminars <strong>and</strong> discussion sessions about<br />
women; <strong>and</strong><br />
• to publish bulletins <strong>and</strong> periodicals on women’s issues.<br />
The National <strong>Gender</strong> Strategy endorsed by the Cabinet was one of the committee’s<br />
most important achievements. It represents a development tool <strong>and</strong> a vision for<br />
women which could bring together partners for development in govern ment, civil<br />
society <strong>and</strong> the donor community, <strong>and</strong> on the basis of which they could adopt plans<br />
<strong>and</strong> programmes. In addition, the Second National Conference on Women of March<br />
2003 produced recommendations that expressed a consensus by Yemeni women from<br />
all parts of the political <strong>and</strong> social spectrum regarding increasing female participation<br />
in public life in general <strong>and</strong> politics in particular.<br />
4. The Most Important Challenges<br />
From the above, it can be seen that there are still many difficulties <strong>and</strong> obstacles in the<br />
way of the inclusion of women in public life, <strong>and</strong> especially politics, in Yemen. The<br />
following are the most important.<br />
4.1. Poverty<br />
Some 27 per cent of Yemeni families live in severe poverty (as regards nutrition), while<br />
absolute poverty affects 47 per cent. Poverty in Yemen is a rural, female phenomenon.<br />
Most rural dwellers suffer from poverty in the form of poor infrastructure, lack of<br />
water, electricity, <strong>and</strong> transport <strong>and</strong> communication networks, <strong>and</strong> lack of educational,<br />
health <strong>and</strong> sewage services, but women suffer more from poverty because they lack<br />
the necessary skills <strong>and</strong> abilities to deal with the burdens of ordinary life.<br />
44
<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
4.2. Education<br />
Illiteracy is particularly prevalent among women: 76 per cent are illiterate, while the<br />
school enrolment rate for girls st<strong>and</strong>s at a poor 37.4 per cent, compared to 68 per<br />
cent for boys. Only 27 per cent of girls complete the basic education stage, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
proportion of girls drops off at the stage of the technical <strong>and</strong> vocational institutes:<br />
there were 774 graduates of such institutions in 2001, but only 3.7 per cent (29)<br />
were girls. In university education, the University of Sana‘a, the country’s biggest such<br />
institution, had 39 per cent female enrolment in academic year 2000/2001, followed<br />
by Taiz University (20 per cent) <strong>and</strong> Aden University (18 per cent).<br />
4.3. <strong>Political</strong> Representation<br />
Female political representation is weak, as seen in the Chamber of Deputies, the local<br />
councils, the Shura Council, the Cabinet, the diplomatic corps <strong>and</strong> the judiciary.<br />
Female membership is low in civil society groups, while political parties employ double<br />
st<strong>and</strong>ards in their dealings with women, reflecting their weak political commitment<br />
to women.<br />
4.4. The Social <strong>and</strong> Cultural Value System<br />
The socio-cultural legacy that obstructs progress for women continues to be<br />
perpetuated; there are attempts to link this to Islamic Sharia.<br />
4.5. The Institutional Structure of the Women’s Movement<br />
The women’s movement is weak <strong>and</strong> fragmented. It fails to coordinate positions among<br />
its constituent members <strong>and</strong> to unify their vision. This is despite the coordinating<br />
efforts of the Women National Committee <strong>and</strong> the creation of a network of women’s<br />
organizations, which have had limited success in working together to combat violence<br />
against women. There is a lack of effective strategies to coordinate <strong>and</strong> cooperate<br />
among women’s groups <strong>and</strong> those advocates of democracy who support the inclusion<br />
of women in political life.<br />
4.6. Infrastructure in Rural Areas<br />
The poor situation here adds to the sufferings of rural women, particularly their lack<br />
of access to the most basic requirements <strong>and</strong> services; rural women suffer from a<br />
double burden that makes political participation a luxury.<br />
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Building Democracy in Yemen<br />
5. Recommendations<br />
• Comprehensive programmes should be adopted to combat female illiteracy,<br />
increase female enrolment in education <strong>and</strong> limit the rate at which they drop out<br />
of general education.<br />
• The level of political commitment to involving women in public affairs, <strong>and</strong><br />
particularly to their political participation, should be increased.<br />
• Legal steps should be taken to guarantee positive <strong>and</strong> effective participation by<br />
women.<br />
• A Ministry of Women’s Development should be created that would make women’s<br />
issues a permanent item on the agenda of Cabinet meetings.<br />
• Comprehensive strategies should be adopted for women’s development in all<br />
economic, social, political <strong>and</strong> cultural domains.<br />
• Women’s organizations should coordinate <strong>and</strong> cooperate in order to create<br />
effective pressure groups for women’s just causes.<br />
• The level of awareness in society as a whole of the importance of women in public<br />
affairs, such as development, should be increased.<br />
• Women should be involved on a comprehensive basis in the whole process of<br />
development, <strong>and</strong> mechanisms should be created to identify the work of women<br />
outside the formal, regulated sectors, especially in agriculture.<br />
• Advantage should be taken of the cultural make-up of society so that full<br />
participation for men <strong>and</strong> women is achieved.<br />
• A network should be created of alliances of women’s <strong>and</strong> other organizations that<br />
are democratic <strong>and</strong> support the incorporation of women into public life.<br />
• Women’s trust in themselves <strong>and</strong> in their ability to assume leadership positions<br />
<strong>and</strong> perform well in them should be strengthened.<br />
• The government should show concern with improving the situation of rural<br />
women through improving their access to opportunities, services <strong>and</strong> resources.<br />
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<strong>Political</strong> <strong>Participation</strong> by Yemeni Women<br />
Sources <strong>and</strong> References<br />
Laws <strong>and</strong> Official Publications<br />
Al-Taqrir al-Watani Hawla Tanfith Ittifaqiat al-Qada’ ‘ala Kafat Ashkal al-Tamyeez<br />
Didh al-Mar’ah [National report on implementing the <strong>International</strong> Convention<br />
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women] (Sana‘a,<br />
2002)<br />
Constitution of the Republic of Yemen<br />
Higher National Committee on Human Rights, National Report on Human Rights,<br />
2003<br />
Law no. 66 of 1991 on <strong>Political</strong> Parties <strong>and</strong> <strong>Political</strong> Organizations<br />
Law No. 13 of 2001 on Parliamentary Elections <strong>and</strong> Referendums<br />
Prime Minister, Decision no. 68 of 2000 on creating a Women National<br />
Committee<br />
Women National Committee, Al-Taqrir al-Sanawi Hawla Wad’ al-Mar’ah fi al-Yemen<br />
[Annual report on the situation of women]<br />
Books, Reports <strong>and</strong> Papers<br />
Ali, Muhammad Ahmad <strong>and</strong> al-Nusayri, Rashida, ‘Makanat al-Mar’a fi al-Tashri’at<br />
al-Yamaniyya’ [The status of women in Yemeni legislation], Dirasat Yamaniyya<br />
(Yemeni studies, a quarterly periodical issued by the Yemeni <strong>Studies</strong> <strong>and</strong> Research<br />
Center), 44 (July–December 1992)<br />
Colburn, Marta, <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>and</strong> Development in Yemen (Sana‘a, 2002)<br />
al-Salahi, Fu’ad, al-Dawr al-Siyasi lil-Mar’a al-Yamaniyya fi Itar Mafhum al-Naw’<br />
al-Ijtima’i [The political role of Yemeni women in the framework of the concept<br />
of gender], analytical study, May 2002<br />
— ‘al-Wad’ al-Siyasi lil-Mar’a fi Itar Mafhum al-Kuta’ [Women’s political situation<br />
in the framework of the concept of the quota], Working Paper presented to the<br />
Second National Committee on Women, 8–10 March 2003<br />
Shihab, Fawziyya Salih, Working Paper at a Seminar on Women <strong>and</strong> Politics <strong>and</strong><br />
Their Role in Development, Qatar, April 2002<br />
al-Susuwa, Umma al-Alim, in Huququna (Center for Information <strong>and</strong> Training in<br />
Human Rights) 6 September 2000<br />
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report,<br />
2002 (New York <strong>and</strong> Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)<br />
47