Advocacy & Lobbying
Journalists across the nation’s media landscape have resolved to help enhance greater women’s participation in politics in the country through the instrumentality of sustained dialogue between women in politics and the media.
The media practitioners made the resolution in Abuja at the end of a one-day gender-sensitive reporting training for key media personnel to support women and ensure they adequately participate in politics.
Click here to read the full article published by New Telegraph on 15 June 2023.
Amman, May 11 (EFE) – The under-representation of Jordanian women in politics hinders the measures the Hashemite kingdom applied to try and close a gender gap that has impacted its ranking in political empowerment among women worldwide.
Out of 164 countries, Jordan came in 122nd in the 2022 World Economic Forum’s survey for gender equality, a report that measures the progress on equality based on political empowerment, economic participation and educational opportunities.
"I thought that occupying a seat in parliament would make men believe in the ability of women in politics, but I was wrong and they accused me of usurping a man’s opportunity to win this seat,” deputy Safaa al-Momeni denounces.
Click here to read the full article published by La Prensa Latina on 11 May 2023.
International IDEA's Senior Advisor for Democracy and Inclusion, Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu, shares a message for International Women’s Day 2023. "Why embracing equality for equity? Because this entails that all democratic processes should be a conduit and a channel for advancing gender equality and equity in societies, in different levels, in all spheres of life. Without gender equality and equity, democracy remains flawed."
Source: International IDEA
International Women’s Day (IWD) an event borne from the suffrage women’s movement since 1909, is a day that globally celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Each annual celebration calls for action to accelerate gender equality which often is linked to other institutionalised and social driven inequalities. This year’s theme to embrace equity is yet another call for action. Embracing equity (the quality of being fair and impartial) applies to all sectors including politics.
This call goes beyond equality especially in politics as equal opportunities are just not enough when women’s political participation is concerned. The World Economic Forum Gender Gap report of 2022 states that the political empowerment gender gap sub-index is at 22 per cent[1]. While this sub-index has the widest range of dispersion amongst countries, it is amongst the worst performing and manifests the largest remaining gender gap.
In 2022, only 34 gender-related legal economic reforms were recorded across 18 countries, the lowest number since 2001[2]. Gender related legal reforms for politics have been far less. The World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report highlights that its Political Empowerment subindex registered significant advance towards parity between 2006 and 2016, fluctuating until 2021, after which it stalled below its 2019 peak. At this rate, it will take 155 years to close the Political Empowerment gap. This implies that Africa and the world at large is far from reaching the 2030 Sustainable Goal number five target of women’s equal and effective political participation.
Click here to read the full article published by International IDEA on 7 March 2023.
Imagine an America where a young girl can see her future reflected in the face of her president.
On Presidents’ Day, we reflect on the legacy of the presidents who have led our nation since our founding. These leaders have differed in their ideologies, their policies, their professional experience, their age, their marital status. But in over 230 years of United States presidents, not one of them has been a woman.
Throughout our nation’s history, our government has been led by men. And those men—however capable and inspiring—have only slowly and begrudgingly conceded power to women. We forget sometimes how recently women in America could not vote, or hold a credit card, or have the right to their own bodily autonomy. In fact, these basic human rights are apparently still up for debate within the halls of government.
We know that the U.S. lags pitifully behind other countries when it comes to women in government. When the International Parliamentary Union measures the proportion of women in national legislatures, the U.S. doesn’t rank in the top 10. We don’t even rank in the top 50. According to our analysis of the most recent data, the U.S. stands at 75th in terms of women’s representation, well behind countries like Germany, Senegal, Bolivia and New Zealand—all of which, not coincidentally, have also had female heads of state.
Click here to read the full article published by MS Magazine on 17 February 2023.
A core component of the three-year regional OECD-MENA Transition Fund project on “Promoting women’s participation in parliaments and policy-making,” is conducting a country-based, peer-reviewed assessment of the existing opportunities and current challenges faced by women candidates. The purpose of this report is to present the findings of this assessment, with a view to identifying targeted policy recommendations that can be implemented to accelerate progress towards gender equality and women’s political empowerment in Jordan. Recommendations are based on findings of the assessment and international good practices.
This report presents both the enabling factors and obstacles in the election of more women to parliament and municipal councils. A second assessment analysed the parliament’s workplace operations, processes, internal procedures and policy-frameworks through a gender lens. The report reviews Jordan’s current legal framework, including adherence to international standards, and assesses the existence and effectiveness of the country’s institutions in promoting women’s political participation. Legal, institutional and social norms that serve as barriers to women’s political participation are highlighted in chapters 1, 2 and 4.
Click here to access the report.