The Jordanian Attitude Towards the Women’s Quota System

This study evaluates the relationship between women and politics in Jordan: more specifically it will look at (1) the attitudes of Jordanians on the the positions of women in the Jordanian assembly, (2) the challenges that women face in the Jordanian Council, and (3) the extent to which people agree or disagree with the Parliament’s quota system. I hypothesized that the attitudes of Jordanians from the public perspective will be supportive of women entering into Parliament and most Jordanian citizens will be in support of the quota system. I also hypothesized that women from Jordan that chose to enter into politics deal with many barriers that might include disapproval from male politicians, this is especially if women are coming in through the quota system since the public and some political elites might see women in political positions as less credible since the political reputation was not gained in the same(traditional) way as men. My research data consists of three interviews with Jordanian citizens from different backgrounds and two interviews with women sitting in parliament. My findings proved that most Jordanian citizens see the Quota Law as a great assistance to the political representation with a few dissenting to that there are plenty of barriers that exist today even though the country has made a long way of improvement for women in politics. I argue that these results are a great example of the current state of mainstream gendering in Jordanian society and the patriarchal barriers that exist in Jordanian politics