Inclusiveness of Jordanian women in local decision‐making process: Opportunities and threats

• Date: 01 November 2019
• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Author: Anan M. Abu‐Hummour
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1928

ACADEMIC PAPER

Inclusiveness of Jordanian women in local decision‐making

process: Opportunities and threats

Anan M. Abu‐Hummour

Public Administration Department, Faculty of

Economic and Administrative Sciences,

Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan

Correspondence

Anan M. Abu‐Hummour, Public Administration

Department, Faculty of Economic and

Administrative Sciences, Yarmouk University,

Irbid 21163, Jordan.

Email: anan.abuhummour@yu.edu.jo

Increasing Jordanian women participation in decision‐making process is the most

debated topic in local administration over the world, including Jordan. The objective

of this study was to determine opportunities and challenges that influence the

inclusiveness of Jordanian women in local decision‐making bodies as perceived by

local administrative personnel working in local administration. Primary data collected

from (120) participants selected randomly from local bodies in Jordan analyzed by

SPSS. The analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between inclusive-

ness of Jordanian women in local decision‐making bodies and opportunities for

increasing their advancement into decision‐making positions at (α≤0.05) except

affirmative action variable was not statistically significant (α≤0.05). The analysis also

revealed a statistically significant correlation between inclusiveness of Jordanian

women in local decision‐making bodies and threats for blocking their access to

decision‐making positions at (α≤0.05). The recommendations of this study are that

further analyses are required within this field. This might be so relevant to other

populations in Arab countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

1|INTRODUCTION

Getting more feminists in upper level positions is a precondition of

growth, development, and competitiveness in emerging economics

all around the world. The Jordanian economy is no exception. In

reality, yet, there is a big gap between leadership representations

among gender in favor of men. Men have occupied decision‐making

positions. In the Jordanian local administration, this is not different

(International Finance Corporation, 2015, p. 7). According to Organiza-

tion of Economic Cooperation and Development 2009 Report, gender

balance can lead to a better economy. Women bring to workplace a

wide range of ideas and views to productivity, and a better decision‐

making process, and high communications skills. Thus, women leader-

ship is seen as a great driver of growth and the wide‐spread benefits

to women themselves, their societies, and the entire country

(Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, 2009).

Gender stereotype in decision‐making positions is remarkably

noticed in different fields: diplomatic, politics, science and research,

telecommunication and information technology, economics. However,

it is getting worse and complicated in senior management and

decision‐making positions with severe women underpresentation

(European Commission, 2012). As a result, initiatives to accelerate

gender equity and diversity and to empower women worldwide are at

the core of the decision‐making debate (Profeta, 2017). The Jordanian

government has developed various strategies to improve Jordanian

women participation in the labor market particularly in decision‐making

positions (United Nations Children's Fund, 2012). Thus, this paper tries

to identify the opportunities and threats that affect Jordanian women's

inclusiveness in local decision‐making bodies in Jordan.

The paper consisted of five parts. Part one, the introduction.

Part two presents and theoretical literature of the subject. Part three

described the methodology in detail. It presents the study methodol-

ogy and procedures that will be utilized to conduct this study. Accord-

ingly, it includes the research questions; the research instrumentation,

providing an explanation of research analysis and the statistical

procedures used to analyze the data; and the research validity and

reliability. It also includes the research results from the data collected

organizing in a logical manner. Part four presents the conclusions and

recommendations, and finally, part five presents implications for

practice Figure 1.

Received: 21 January 2019 Accepted: 23 February 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1928

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1928.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1928

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of13