Calls for more female ministers in Jordan\'s new government

A local women advocacy group on Sunday called on Prime Minister-designate Abdullah Ensour to include more women in his new ministerial lineup “compatible with their key role in achieving comprehensive and sustainable development.” Sisterhood Is Global Institute SIGI/Jordan, a local based non-governmental organisation, said 2013 is a promising year for Jordanian women to make important achievements that underline the political will and the need to carry on despite the setbacks and difficulties. It noted that the cabinet last year endorsed the 2013-2017 national strategy for Jordanian women and that women had secured 12 percent of seats in the Kingdom’s 150-member 17th parliament, their highest ever representation in the country. “Despite a drawback in women’s political participation in 2012, when the Constitutional Court and Independent Elections Commissions had no women members and no female ministers in the government, the paramount challenge before the prime minister-designate is to keep the momentum in women’s achievement this year through bringing them into the political process,” added the statement.