Amman, AKEED

As registration of candidates competing over seats in the 18th Lower House of Parliament closed, women have accounted for 20% of the total number of candidates: 258 women out of 1,293 people whose names were announced as candidates.

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) has followed the media coverage of women candidates and observed that there was balanced and positive coverage of women candidates by media outlets. On the other hand, the Monitor observed some attempts at moral assassination of some women who had the intention of running by some activists on social media sites.

According to official statements, those who are eligible to vote and who are registered in voter lists totaled 4,134,903. Other statistics showed that female voters outnumbered male voters by 234,190. However, in accordance with the new Election Law, women have maintained their quota of 15 seats. The list system has given women candidates better opportunities for running.

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) monitored the media coverage of issues of women candidates between 21 July and 21 August, which is the period that saw the formation of lists and registration of names of candidates. The number of published items on women candidacy, which are documented on the search engine Google, totaled 650 news items. It should be noted that the content was sometimes repeated or was common between these items.

Perhaps, the most significant event that media outlets took note of was the existence of two electoral lists that are made up of women candidates: One in Al-Zarqa, which includes eight women, by the name "Al Nashmiyat List," and another in Amman, which includes three women, besides the existence of lists that include more than one woman candidate per list.    

The headlines of media coverage of this event included the following:

"Al Nashmiyat Bloc in First (Constituency) in Al-Zarqa"

"Al Nashmiyat List Without Men"

"Women-Only List Registered Under Name of Al Nashmiyat"

"Al Nashmiyat List Registered in First (Constituency) in Al-Zarqa"

In most cases, the news was reported in neutral terms, but other headlines were somewhat sensational. This included the headline: "Surprise of 2016 Elections…Complete Woman List." It said: "Contrary to norms and in a phenomenon that was not expected by observers or anyone else, a women-only bloc has been formed." However, the news did not contain any negative references.

Some media outlets not only published neutral news, but tried to engage in positive discrimination, which is a professionally correct practice when it comes to coverage of special segments. In this context, we read, for example, the following headlines: "Women in Electoral Lists Increase Chances of Winning," and "Five Reasons Prompt Electoral Lists To Include Women." The second news item tried to explain the phenomenon of the increase in women candidates.

Furthermore, some media outlets published statements by entities and organizations that advocate giving encouragement to women, including a statement issued by the "Eye on Women" coalition, which underlined the role of "election campaigning by lists in bridging the gender gap." It said that the instructions pertaining to the rules of election campaigns, besides confining campaigning to lists as a whole, give women candidates a chance to overcome the hurdle of financing their campaigns, which was a serious obstacle to communicating their platforms.

The monitoring showed that media outlets were keen on highlighting news about lists led or "formed" by women.

"Formation of First National List Led by Woman Under Name of "Stronger Jordan""

Hind al-Fayiz Forms Al-Bairaq List

Reem Badran Heads Amman List

Other reports focused on the challenges facing women in some election districts, including a report under the headline "Women Try To Be More Visible in Al-Ramtha by Joining Electoral Lists." It reported the statements of a woman, who is a member of Al-Ramtha Municipal Council, in which she defended the right of women to have strong electoral showing.

A report from Irbid carried the headline "Failure of Women Candidates To Form Separate Electoral Lists." It explained the reasons that made women in Irbid prefer to run along with men on lists.

Another report revealed the difficulties encountering women in running for election in Ajloun under the headline "Internal Elections Deprive Women of Running." The report said: "The Ajloun Governorate is still witnessing a flurry of election activity, which is restricted to tribes and districts deciding on candidates either through tribal or regional consensus or by holding internal elections. Internal tribal elections have been confined to men to the exclusion of women, with the exception of one tribe."

Salma Nims, secretary general of the Jordanian National Commission for Women, said in published statements that "the word quota must not be written next to the name of women on lists." She clarified that according to the law, women may not be designated as quota candidates as they compete, just like men. As for losers, they compete over quota seats.

Even unique and interesting phenomena received special media coverage, including the case of a Woman Seeking Candidacy in Front of Al-Balqa Registration Center Looking for List. This news was published by dozens of electronic sites. It cited one of the observers of "Eye on Women" coalition for observing elections as saying that a lady who wished to run in the elections was present in front of the center for registering candidates in Al-Balqa Governorate and informed the observer of her wish to run in the parliamentary elections. However, she failed to join any of the lists and came to the center in a bid to join one of the lists that show up for registration.

The monitoring observed many items that were published and that highlighted women presence positively:

Political Activist Runs in Elections in Amman Third Constituency on Strong List

19.4% of Candidates on First Day Are Women

Female Ratio Unchanged on Second Day of Registration

"Elections in Jerash: Difficult Birth of Lists and Women Playing Hard To Get"

Training Programs in Governorates for Women Wishing To Run in Elections

Irbid First Constituency Closes After Registering 12 Lists With 83 Candidates, Including 12 Women

11 Lists in Kerak Have 95 Candidates, Including 15 women

Awareness-Raising Session on Election Law and Women Participation in Elections

37,000 Votes Enabled 18 Women To Get Elected to Parliament

All in all, it can be observed that the media coverage of issues and news of women candidates has steered clear of visibly negative professional practices. Media outlets have provided important and comprehensive information about the election process and all the details related to quota.

However, there have been some limited exceptions, key of which were the items published on a lawyer who decided to run for election in Al-Zarqa, but did not continue with her candidacy and announced her withdrawal. News items about her candidacy saw violation of privacy as they focused on the picture of the candidate that was published with the item.

Another less severe case was the announcement by a woman activist on 31 July about her wish to run on her Facebook page. This was reported by an electronic site, which included a picture that received sarcastic comments. She then announced on 10 August that she was quitting, in a comment on Facebook that she wrote in the form of a letter addressed to the King. She announced that she was leaving Jordan, accusing a "fifth column" of standing against her. A website published her letter after noting in the headline that she Cables the King and Leaves. This, in itself, generated more mocking comments by readers.

The third notable case was the publishing of news about a Jordanian media personality running on a list that included the names of two other women, who were said to be media persons. She immediately published a statement, in which she denied her candidacy, adding that her name was inserted with two other fake names. The news was removed from some sites.

It should be noted that some of these violations were based on what is posted on social media pages without doing the necessary verification. In all of the above cases, the published picture was the motive for going in the wrong direction.