Observatory platform launched to empower women in political sphere

AMMAN — In a bid to enhance Jordanian women's participation in public and political life, a local NGO on Wednesday launched an observatory platform to monitor and support progress towards this goal for the next three years.

The project, which is being implemented by Solidarity Is Global Institute (SIGI),  formerly known as Sisterhood is Global Institute, will work to support women’s political participation by increasing the number of women involved in the electoral process, while advocating for women’s role in politics.

"We want to monitor the positive achievements and the setbacks for the women's movement to work on reducing the gender gap in the political and public spheres," said SIGI Executive Director Asma Khader.

Khader, who was addressing reporters and civil society members at SIGI's headquarters in Amman, added that the observatory’s findings "will help us focus on our priorities and the needs of the Kingdom's governorates in the coming years".

The observatory platform is part of a larger project titled “Eye on Women in the Elections” or “Ain", with over 50 members who will focus on monitoring elections from a gender perspective to look at legislation, candidates, electoral programmes and the implementation of plans, according to Khader.

The observatory will also perform post-election follow-ups of women in elected councils, leadership posts and decision making positions to serve as a channel of information and an advocacy tool, she added.

SIGI Director Munir Idaibes said that a website was launched to include all of the outcomes resulting from the research by SIGI teams on the field and other sources of information.

"The idea is to focus on positive achievements and build on them, while at the same time addressing the negative findings," Idaibes said. 

He added that the website will include updated information on statistics and findings related to women across 50 indicators and fields.

The project will also raise awareness and provide capacity building for qualified female leaders who want to participate in elections, as well as elected women in their current or expected roles, according to SIGI. 

Promoting gender auditing to ensure that the performance of state authorities takes gender into consideration will reinforce all of these goals.

The project aims to target over 1,100 direct beneficiaries throughout Jordan, which will include those from grassroots organisations, women voters, youth of both genders, female community leaders, women activists, MPs, senators, governors, council members, municipal members and governmental and non-governmental leaders, as well as media personnel, SIGI said.

 The project is being co-funded by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation and the EU under the framework of the Jordanian Democratic Institutions Development (EU-JDID) programme.