Maaytah calls for more engagement of women in Arab world’s politics

AMMAN — Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Maaytah on Tuesday called for revisiting laws to give women more say and a role in politics and in the legislature.

Attending a meeting of the Arab Women Parliamentarians Network (Ra’edat), Maaytah called for half of the Parliament to be made up of women to “justly reflect the society”.

In a Ra’edat statement to The Jordan Times, Maaytah described women as “less corrupt than men”, commending women parliamentarians’ performance and role.

Former MP Rula Hroub, who is also Ra’edat’s chairperson, was also quoted in the statement as saying that woman’s participation and engagement in the Arab world’s politics falls below the global average by 5 points, despite the progress achieved within the last decade.

She also called on government, parliament and political parties to adopt the procedures suggested in the policy paper developed by Ra’edat to help raise representation of women in leadership structures within political parties and on their electoral lists.