Women’s rights activists to monitor performance of male, female MPs

AMMAN — With the inauguration of Parliament’s first ordinary session on Monday, the Sisterhood Is Global Institute (SIGI) said it will monitor the legislature’s performance, particularly women MPs.

Asma Khader, the president of SIGI in Jordan, said monitoring the performance of women deputies seeks to ensure that their legislative and monitoring role is equal to their male counterparts.

“We look at women MPs as representatives of citizens across the country, and their duties in improving laws and monitoring the government serve the entire population, not only women,” she told The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Monday.

Observing Parliament’s performance from a gender perspective is a way to highlight issues of concern to women and other segments of society, such as the rights of children and people with disabilities, Khader noted. 

“Women in previous parliaments did well, but their efforts were not usually highlighted,” the former minister said, adding that the monitoring campaign will bridge this gap. 

SIGI will hold meetings with male and female parliamentarians to discuss specific regulations of concern to women, according to Khader.

She noted that some previous parliamentary initiatives have engaged women organisations and the civil society in general in dialogue, an issue, she said, should increase and expand to the governorates.

Concerning the top demands of women organisations, Khader highlighted the need to entirely repeal Article 308 of the Penal Code, noting that MPs only discuss certain articles that the government refers to them for amendments. 

“Women organisation want amendments to other articles of the Penal Code that were not suggested by the government, such as articles 98 and 97, which allow the reduction of sentences in so-called honour crimes,” she said.

Article 308 allows rapists to avoid punishment if they marry their victims.

The request also includes adding new provisions to the Penal Code to protect women, children and people with disabilities from violence, Khader said.

In addition, she cited the demand for gender equity in civil and military retirement regulations, so that working women can combine their own salaries and the pensions of their deceased husbands. 

In addition, the law should allow the husband and children to inherit the woman’s pension.

Several issues in the Personal Status Law should also be reviewed, including the rights of divorce and custody of children as well as marriage age.

“Exceptions that allow for marrying underage girls have expanded so much,” she said, adding that 13 per cent of annual marriage cases are of girls under 18.

Furthermore, women organisations, led by the Jordanian National Commission for Women, have recently met with lawmakers and submitted a list of demands to amend the Labour Law, regarding childcare services and pay equity. 

Women’s representation in the 18th Lower House is the highest in the history of Jordanian parliaments (20 out of 130 seats), according to SIGI, a figure that increased Jordan’s ranking by five ranks regionally and 22 internationally in terms of women’s representation in Parliament.

SIGI cited studies showing that women MPs are “more understanding, more cooperative, less aggressive and less corrupt” than their male counterparts.