Jordan Women's Rights Activists Start New Initiative for Upcoming Elections

Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan (SIGI/J)’s team joined women’s rights activists in the national campaign launched on Tuesday July 17th to support female candidates in municipal elections to be held at the end of the month in Jordan.

The initiative, under the slogan of “My house, my municipality, my country, a trust I undertake”, seeks to help women increase their representation in the municipal polls, to be held on the 31st of July. The Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW), a leader of the initiative, distributed pamphlets and posters to reporters that included election slogans such as “You (men) trusted women to raise your children, wouldn’t you trust them to serve your country?”, “Women want their position in society not yours (men)”, and “Women are working with you (men), not against you”.

Around 500 women have so far expressed interest in running in the municipal elections, according to a JNCW tally. A “Unified list” of women candidates running in the country’s 93 municipalities will be announced after registration for the elections closes on July 24.

In the 2003 municipal elections, only 5 of the 46 women who ran won, prompting the government to appoint 97 women to local councils. Currently, around 8 percent of municipal council seats are filled by women, with the majority appointed by the government.