Women’s Civil Society Organisations and Women’s Political Participation in Jordan

Abstract

Women’s civil society organisations (WCSOs) in Jordan have become a vital means of advocating and supporting the participation of women in politics. Through the provision of services and political mobilisation, WCSOs offer women the chance to participate in politics and public affairs. This study investigates how the participation of women in politics is advocated and supported by these organisations and under what conditions it has been effective. This study will utilise the existing literature and theories on WCSOs and women’s movements to explain the changing nature of women’s political participation representation in Jordan. In particular, I analyse a range of descriptive data in order to identify and analyse how women’s organisations have worked to improve the status of women over time in Jordan. The study also includes material gained from 46 detailed interviews with women who have been involved in women’s organisations and formal politics across Jordan since the transition to democracy. The objective of the study is to analyse the work that is done by WCSOs in Jordan whose aims are to increase the participation of women in politics and advocate for women gaining greater political status. This thesis argues that WCSOs have been, and continue to be essential to encouraging women to participate in politics by: (i) assisting women to increase their ability by improving their skills and understanding their rights; (ii) mobilising to lobby politicians to grant assistance to women candidates to run for office; (iii) implementing the quota system; (iv) building a number of groups of women by improving their skills and knowledge, to take a leadership role to facilitate pre-designed women’s organisations’ activities; and (v) contributing their own strategies to enhance and shape women’s political participation outcome. This case study of Jordan highlights the significance of numerous forms of context-dependent knowledge, and provides a useful example for Arabic countries where women’s organisations continue to promote women’s representation. This research also contributes to the scholarly debate on the importance of taking into account the role of women’s organisations in promoting women’s representation.