Gender equality and elections

BRIDGE Gender Equality and elections Workshop for the Jordanian Election Commission

3 – 7 March 2024

The Project “Empowering Women for Leadership Roles in the MENA Region” implemented by the Forum of Federations and funded by Global Affairs Canada, in collaboration with the Jordanian Independent Election Commission (IEC), the League of Arab States and the UNDP have implemented a five-day BRIDGE “Gender Equality and elections” workshop for the Jordanian Election Commission staff.

The facilitation team comprised five BRIDGE facilitators who participated in the preparation and delivery of this workshop, two of them were TtF complete facilitators and two were women. By the end of the workshop, the TtF complete facilitators obtained their accreditation as BRIDGE workshop facilitators.

The workshop aimed at raising awareness regarding the importance of women’s participation in elections, increasing knowledge regarding women’s role at the different phases of the Electoral cycle as well as identifying the challenges women face during elections. It focused on the issue of violence against women in elections and explored strategies and temporary special measures to increase women’s presence in political life, identified gender international obligations for elections, analyzed different electoral systems and their impact on women’s representation.

By the end of the workshop, most of the participants recommended to have more BRIDGE trainings in the future, as it contributes effectively to building their capacities as EMB’s staff and it increases their knowledge regarding the different aspects of the electoral process.