Abstract
The recent increase in female political representation in the parliaments of the Middle East and North Africa has prompted significant interest among scholars and policymakers. While research examining the dynamics of women’s numerical presence has proliferated, studies examining the role of female legislators within these bodies remain scarce. To bridge this gap, this chapter focuses on one of the most understudied aspects in MENA’s legislatures: female committee assignments. We are particularly interested in understanding the dynamics of female deputies’ committee leadership and membership in the Jordanian lower chamber. This chapter analyzes variations in women’s committee assignments since the introduction of the gender quota in 2003 using original legislative data supplemented by qualitative interviews and legislator-level data.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abou-Zeid, G. (1998). In search of political power: Women in parliament in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. In A. Karam (Ed.), Women in Parliament: Beyond numbers (pp. 43–54). International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance: Stockholm.
Abu Rumman, H. (2003). Qirra’a Awaliyya fil-Intikhabat al-Niyabiyya al-Urduniyya (A preliminary reading of Jordan’s Parliamentary Elections). Civil Society Issues. Amman: New Jordan Center for Studies.
Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender Society,4(2), 139–158.
Acker, J. (1992). The future of women and work: Ending the twentieth century. Sociological Perspectives,35(1), 53–68.
Al-Attiyat, I. (2005). Participation in public life and its impact on women in Jordan. In N. H. Zander (Ed.), Building democracy in Jordan: Women’s political participation, political party life, and democratic elections (pp. 25–66). IDEA: Stockholm.
Amawi, A. (2007). Against all odds: Women candidates in Jordanian elections. In V. M. Moghadam (Ed.), From patriarchy to empowerment (pp. 40–57). Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Aparicio, F. J., & Langston, J. (2009). Committee leadership selection without seniority: The Mexican case (Documento de Trabajo No. 217). Mexico City: CIDE.
Baekgaard, M., & Kjaer, U. (2012). The gendered division of labor in assignments to political committees: Discrimination or self-selection in Danish local politics? Politics and Gender,8(4), 465–482.
Beckwith, K. (2007). Numbers and newness: The descriptive and substantive representation of women. Canadian Journal of Political Science,40(1), 27–49.
Blaydes, L. (2010). Elections and distributive politics in Mubarak’s Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carroll, S. J. (2008). Committee assignments: Discrimination or choice? In B. Reingold (Ed.), Legislative women: Getting elected, getting ahead (pp. 135–156). Lynne Rienner: Boulder, CO.
Childs, S., & Krook, M. L. (2009). Analysing women’s substantive representation: From critical mass to critical actors. Government and Opposition,44(2), 125–145.
Cox, G., & McCubbins, M. (2005). Setting the agenda: Responsible party government in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dahlerup, D. (2009). Women in Arab parliaments: Can gender quotas contribute to democratization? Al-Raida,126(27), 2–38.
Darcy, R. (1996). Women in the state legislative power structure: Committee chairs. Social Science Quarterly,77(4), 888–898.
Fenno, R. (1973). Congressmen in Committees. Boston: Little, Brown.
Freedom House. (2018). Jordan. https://freedomhouse.org/country/jordan. Accessed 10 November 2018.
Frisch, S. A., & Kelly, S. Q. (2003). A place at the table. Women & Politics,25(3), 1–26.
Gandhi, J. (2009). Political institutions under dictatorship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gandhi, J., & Przeworski, A. (2006). Cooperation, cooptation, and rebellion under dictatorships. Economics and Politics,18(1), 1–26.
Geddes, B. (2005). Why parties and elections in authoritarian regimes? Paper presented at the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC.
Heath, R. M., Schwindt-Bayer, L., & Taylor-Robinson, M. M. (2005). Women on the sidelines: Women’s representation on committees in Latin American legislatures. American Journal of Political Science,49(2), 420–436.
Inter-Parliamentary Union. (2018). Women in National Parliaments. http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm. Accessed 10 November 2018.
Jordan Parliament. (2017). The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: The Parliament. http://parliament.jo/. Accessed December 2018.
Jordan Politics. (2019). Nariman Ahmad Zuhair al-Rusan. http://jordanpolitics.org. Accessed 11 June 2019.
Kathlene, L. (1994). Power and influence in state legislative policymaking: Interaction of gender and position in committee hearing debates. American Political Science Review,88(3), 560–576.
Kenney, S. J. (1996). New research on gendered political institutions. Political Research Quarterly,49(2), 445–466.
Krehbiel, K., Shepsle, K. A., & Weingast, B. R. (1987). Why are congressional committees powerful? American Political Science Association,81(3), 925–945.
Loidolt, B., & Mecham, Q. (2016). Parliamentary opposition under hybrid regimes: Evidence from Egypt. Legislative Studies Quarterly,41(4), 997–1022.
Lust-Okar, E. (2006). Elections under authoritarianism: Preliminary lessons from Jordan. Democratization,3, 456–471.
Malesky, E., & Schuler, P. (2010). Nodding or needling: Analyzing delegate responsiveness in an authoritarian parliament. American Political Science Review,104(3), 482–502.
Moghadam, V. (2014). Democratization and women’s political leadership in North Africa. Journal of International Affairs,68(1), 59–78.
Murray, R., & Sénac, R. (2018). Explaining gender gaps in legislative committees. Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy,39(3), 310–355.
Randall, V. (1987). Women and politic: An international perspective. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Ryan, C. R. (2010). Déjà vu all over again? Jordan’s 2010 elections. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/11/15/deja-vu-all-over-again-jordans-2010-elections/. Accessed 11 June 2019.
Sabbagh, A. (2007). Overview of women’s political representation in the Arab region: Opportunities and challenges. The Arab quota report: Selected case studies (pp. 7–18). IDEA: Stockholm.
Sassoon, J. (2016). Anatomy of authoritarianism in the Arab republics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sater, J. N. (2009). Parliamentary elections and authoritarian rule in Morocco. The Middle East Journal,63(3), 381–400.
Schwindt-Bayer, L. A. (2010). Political power and women’s representation in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shalaby, M., & Elimam, L. (2017). Arab women in the legislative process. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/68780. Accessed 10 November 2018.
Shalaby, M., & Elimam, L. (Forthcoming). Women in legislative committees in Arab parliaments. Journal of Comparative Politics.
Skjeie, H. (1991). Rhetoric of difference: On women’s inclusion into political elites. Politics and Society,19(2), 233–263.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: The Parliament. (2018). http://Secretary.parliament.jo/. Accessed November 2018.
Thomas, S., & Welch, S. (1991). Impact of gender on activities and priorities of state legislators. Western Political Science Association,44(2), 445–456.
Towns, A. (2003). Understanding the effects of larger ratios of women in national legislatures: Proportions and gender differentiation in Sweden and Norway. Women & Politics,25(1), 1–29.
Yoder, J. D. (1991). Rethinking tokenism: Looking beyond numbers. Gender and Society,5(2), 178–192.
Yule, J. (2000). Women councillors and committee recruitment. Local Government Studies,26(3), 31–54.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shalaby, M., Elimam, L. (2020). Examining Female Membership and Leadership of Legislative Committees in Jordan. In: Darhour, H., Dahlerup, D. (eds) Double-Edged Politics on Women’s Rights in the MENA Region. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27735-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27735-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27734-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27735-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)