Jordan changed – Panorama – SZ.de

An apology to the nation. This is probably not how the Jordanian parliamentary chairman Abdalkarim al-Dughmi imagined his New Years address. But the pictures that went around the world from his hall left him no other choice. Shortly before the turn of the year, he and the Jordanian people had to watch live as the elected representatives hit their heads within seconds and their parliament transformed into a boxing ring. His energetic ringing with the big bell didn’t help either, the rascals didn’t want to hear. Instead, they yelled, pushed, kicked and cursed. The session had to be interrupted. “A brutal battlefield,” wrote the Qatari television station al-Jazeera under one Video recording on Twitter. Al-Dughmi, on the other hand, called it “unfortunate” earlier this week and added that the same is happening in other parliaments around the world.

The heated debate was about gender-equitable language in the Jordanian constitution. The additional salutation “Jordanian citizens” should be included in the section that specifies the rights and obligations of citizens. Some MPs described the addition as useless, a concession to the West and a mess of the Arabic language. When MP Raed al-Smirat called the whole debate a “disgrace”, al-Dughmi cracked down on him and expelled him from the room. And the ring was open.

As of this week, the hard-won salutation has been anchored in the Jordanian constitution. Of 130 MPs, 94 voted for the change, 26 opposed it and ten stayed away from the vote, according to the state-run Petra news agency. However, the explosive atmosphere under the parliamentary dome also makes it clear which patriarchal structures the Jordanians have to fight against. Many welcomed the new address, but activists pointed out how discriminatory the citizenship law, for example, still is.

For example, women who marry foreign men cannot pass on their nationality to their children. For two decades civil organizations have been calling for a change in the law with campaigns like “My mother is Jordanian and her nationality is a right for me” (My mother is Jordanian and her nationality is a right to me), so far without success. In 2014, parliament allowed itself to make a concession: The children of Jordanian women were granted “privileges”, including the right to residence permits and property.

There are no standards for gender equality

While many countries in the region have developed national gender equality strategies over the past decade, their main focus is on tackling gender discrimination and violence. Standards, principles and goals for gender equality are missing in most strategy papers of Arab nations.

After the scandal, some are calling for a higher quota of women in parliament on the Internet. Especially that Image of the few female MPs made the rounds there. While the gentlemen slid across the rows of seats and mutually agreed on their masculinity, the women remained seated and attended the event with a reasonable dose of astonishment.

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