Jordan Women’s participation in Islamist parties on the rise - study

By Taylor Luck, Jordan Times

AMMAN - The Kingdom is witnessing a rise in women’s participation in Islamist parties and organisations, according to a study recently released by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

Titled, “Women and Politics”, the study reveals that Islamist parties are increasingly relying on women to expand their membership base, and in turn are attempting to address certain issues of concern to women such as education and the right to work.

The party that boasts the highest number of women members among Islamist parties is the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, the study said.

Women represent some 10 per cent of the party’s general assembly and in recent IAF shura council elections they won nine seats in the 120-member body, the highest ever, the study noted.

IAF women have initiated a project with other Islamist women activists to clearly define “Islamic feminism” and “educate and raise the awareness of women of their legitimate rights under sharia,” according to the study.

The proposed Islamist feminism would define women’s liberation within Islam, rejecting Western versions of feminism for “undermining family values”.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not the only Islamist group targeting and gaining the support of women, the study noted.

The Islamist Centrist Party, whose 750 members include 12 women, has five females in its 50-member shura council, but no woman has yet been elected to the party’s political bureau, the study said.

The party’s platform for women is based on eradicating illiteracy among Jordanian women, particularly in rural areas, securing women’s rights as outlined in sharia and ensuring their legitimate right to work.

The 850-strong Duaa Party, meanwhile, boasts 350 female members, according to the study, while its “board of trustees”, or governing council, hosts seven women.

The party has yet to field a female member for Parliament, which Duaa Secretary General Mohammad Abu Bakr is quoted as attributing to a lack of confidence in women being elected under the current one-person, one-vote electoral system.

Also highlighted in the study is growing female membership in professional associations, which tend to be predominately Islamist. The number of women in the associations has risen to 21,000, over 20 per cent of the 100,000 members.

But all Islamist groups, including the IAF, are still struggling to form positions on controversial issues such as khuloe, the right for women to file for divorce, and so-called honour crimes, spurring internal debate on women’s future in Islamist movements, the study said.

Despite disagreements within Islamist groups on how best to incorporate women into activities, Jordanian women are increasingly moving towards political Islam to assert their rights, according to researcher and study author Hassan Abu Hani.

“What we are witnessing in Jordan is recent activism in women, particularly through Islamist movements,” he told The Jordan Times.

“In addition to social work in not-for-profit charities, women are becoming politically active on the ground, particularly through the Muslim Brotherhood, and have become a strong part of the movement’s base,” he said, noting the trend is new to Jordan, despite women’s long-standing participation in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Abu Hani predicted a continued increase in women’s participation in Islamist movements.

“Through political Islam, women are finding ways to enter the political arena they didn’t have before, and as long as there is a discourse in the movement allowing their participation, this trend will continue,” he said.

“Women in Politics”, available both in Arabic and English, is the second in a line of studies on political Islam published by FES, with the third instalment expected later this spring.

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung is a political foundation linked to the German Social Democratic Party which seeks to promote dialogue between decision makers in the region and abroad.

FES activities in the Middle East take place under the umbrella of a cooperation agreement between the organisation and the Arab League, carried out through offices across the region.