Activists plan to send letters to ‘every member of Parliament’ ahead of joint session on PSL

AMMAN — The women’s movement on Wednesday said it has intensified its lobbying efforts ahead of an expected joint session between the Senate and the Lower House to vote on amendments to the Personal Status Law (PSL).

Mizan Law Group (MLG) drafted a letter addressed to the representatives of both Houses to vote in favour of two articles related to early marriage and the “mandated will” or “wasiya wajiba”.

“We will send the letters to each and every Parliament representative in hopes that it will convince them to vote in favour of the two articles,” MLG Executive Director Eva Abu Halaweh told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) called for a meeting today to discuss possible messages to be sent out electronically and printed on banners.

“We called on the women’s movement and civil society to meet today to work on messages and decide on the time to stage a sit-in in front of the Parliament on the day of the voting,” JNCW Secretary General Samla Nims told The Jordan Times.

The Sisterhood is Global Institute also issued a statement on Wednesday urging MPs and senators to vote in favour of the women’s movements’ demands “in order to protect the rights of girls in proper education and their child’s rights”.

In recent weeks, the Lower House voted to maintain the legal age of marriage exceptions for boys and girls at 15 years old.

But last week, the Senate upheld its previous decision to increase the age of marriage for women in exceptional cases to 16 years old and to amend an article related to the “mandated will” or “wasiya wajiba”, by giving inheritance rights to the grandchildren of female children, as well as male children; a right previously only given to male grandchildren.

The Lower House previously voted against giving female children the same inheritance rights as male children.

The differences in opinion between the two Houses have led to a joint session expected to be held on Monday.

The legal age of marriage in Jordan is 18 for men and women, but the law allowed for several exceptions for girls aged 15 and above if a judge deemed it in their best interests.

According to the Chief Islamic Justice Department’s official statistics, there were 77,700 marriage contracts issued in 2017, of which 10,434 (around 30 a day) involved marriages in which the wife was under the age of 18.

Government statistics indicated that divorce cases among individuals under 18 amounted to 5,335 in 2017, of which, 413 cases involved wives under the age of 18.