Map outlines Jordanian women’s participation in public sector

AMMAN — By the end of 2019, Jordan ranked 10th in the Arab world and 127th in the world in the field of female ministerial representation, coming in 10th in the Arab world and 134th in the world in terms of female parliamentary representation.

The Kingdom advanced by two places on an Arab level and regressed by two rankings on a global level in its female parliamentary representation in 2019 compared with 2018, according to a statement issued by Solidarity is Global Institute Jordan (SIGI) on Thursday carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Regarding women’s ministerial representation, Jordan declined by six places on an Arab level and 32 places on a global level, according to the statement.

These figures came as part of the “Women in politics: 2020” map, created by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women, which presents global rankings for women in executive, government and parliamentary positions as of January 1, 2020, and includes 190 countries, according to the statement.

Jordan has amended the Lower House Elections Law of 2001 and allocated a quota for the representation of women in the Lower House, which was applied in the 2003 elections, the statement noted. 

Subsequent amendments were made to the law increasing the number of seats allocated for women to 15 seats, as is currently the case.

The number of women in Jordan’s Lower House in its 18th session reached 20 out of 130 total lawmakers, at a rate of 15.4 per cent, 15 of them elected according to the quota and five through competition.

The number of female ministers in the current government of Omar Razzaz is four, of 29 total ministers.