Toujan Faisal, the First Woman to be Elected to the Jordanian Parliament in 1993: "Political reform is the key, and women in the public sphere are citizens, not More."

Toujan Faisal was the first woman to be elected to the Jordanian parliament in 1993. The events that accompanied her election did not merely expose the intensity with which she clashed with all the taboos that a woman may face. She gave fiery speeches in parliament that led to a dispute between herself and the late King Hussein Bin Talal, in which she remained steadfast in her position.

In the 1989 elections, the Islamists launched a ferocious war on Toujan, attacking her for her liberal views and refusal to accept the inferiority of women. She was subject to numerous accusations in this regard, including the allegation that she called for women to be allowed to marry four spouses, as is permitted for men.

She did not win a parliamentary seat in the 1997 elections amidst suspicious circumstances. She appealed to observers to ascertain that the voting had been rigged against her, demonstrating her willingness to present evidence to that effect. After – and before – the elections, she clashed fiercely with a number of prime ministers, including Zaid ibn Shaker and Ali Abu Ragheb, and penned bold letters to the highest authorities.

Toujan was tried before a military court in 2002 after sending an incendiary letter to King Abdullah II in which she attacked then-Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb, accusing him of turning Jordan into a feudal state and criticising dictatorship in the country. She was imprisoned for eighteen months on charges ostensibly unrelated to politics, namely “broadcasting false and exaggerated news abroad that offends the dignity of the state, writing and publishing false information that disparages the state and its reputation, harming the dignity of individuals and their reputation, inciting disturbances and crime, slandering the judiciary and the public administration, and uttering words within earshot of another person deemed detrimental to his religious feeling.”

Toujan completed her term in prison with a hunger strike, which brought her to the brink of death. She was issued a royal pardon and released, but was handed a ban on running in any parliamentary elections, a ban that prompted criticism from a number of constitutional experts.

Her controversial personality has led her to enter into constant battles. It all began very early on, ever since her appearance as a broadcaster on Jordanian television.

The interview:

What is your understanding of reform?

I believe that political reform is the key, and that other reform falls under political reform. In brief, I think that the adoption of the constitution in Jordan in 1952 (i.e. without the amendments subsequently made to it) is the basis of such reform. I personally developed a reform initiative on the basis of my knowledge of the true desires of the Jordanian people. Considering myself to be a “political doctor,” I attempted to diagnose the illness and then came up with a prescription for reform. The treatment I proposed years ago was the abrogation of the constitutional amendments, which are void in both form and substance in legal terms, and for elections to be held according to a law resulting from a broad national dialogue, based on equal constituencies and seats, and pluralism. I now think that there is something better: the proportional representation list, and the establishment of an interim government without the power to take major financial decisions, until such time a government with real legitimacy can be formed in the presence of a real parliament.

Does your understanding of reform as a woman differ from your general understanding of the concept?

I feel that I am primarily a citizen, and do not have any special sense of women except when dealing with my loved ones. A citizen is a citizen whether male or female, and masculinity and femininity are defined solely within the context of personal relations.

But don’t you feel that women have a certain uniqueness?

When true democracy is established (according to the constitution) there will cease to be discrimination against women. However, when general conditions deteriorate it is by and large women who pay the highest price. When conditions worsen, the situation of women becomes most vulnerable in the most under-developed areas. This deterioration and this vulnerability are reflected in greater restrictions on women. A report by the UNDP found that women and children pay a greater price in such situations. Generally speaking, it is women who pay the price of political and economic under-development. Overall reform is therefore the way to guarantee reform in the situation of women and of all groups disadvantaged by the current situation.

One should bear in mind that traditions do not alter because of the law. For instance, honour crimes – most of which have no actual justification – cannot be stopped by the law.

Another important point is that the emphasis that is placed by governments on men, and in particular young men, is due to the fact that young men go out onto the streets and are present on the streets. And so they fear and focus on them in order to contain them.

What is your view of the women’s quota?

I am opposed to all forms of quota, because quotas are in conflict with full equality between citizens. What happens is that the allocation of a quota for women, or projects for women, helps unqualified women to come to the fore. This is what happens with all forms of quota, like the tribal quotas, for instance.

But not every woman can be Toujan Faisal!

Women are essentially citizens, and the sole criterion for progress is competence. When society as a whole progresses the situation of women automatically improves.

What about the story of the skirt? You created uproar when you entered the opening of parliament wearing a skirt!

I wanted to send a visual message that women had arrived via the elections. At the time, I had managed to gain a seat in parliament without male leverage or support. By wearing a skirt, I wanted to entrench the image of a woman entering parliament. One of the strange things that happened to me on the day of the opening of the Chamber of Deputies, when I was walking up the stairs, was that some of the staff confronted me and started to escort me away. I later found out that they were taking me to the guest rooms! They couldn’t imagine that I was the woman who had won a seat in parliament!

Does your position as a public figure have an impact on your femininity?

On the contrary, I have not abandoned my femininity, even in my appearance, something I emphasised in the story of the skirt. The most important point for me is that I am a citizen. I worked hard and persevered in all the areas I have worked in. Even when I met a television director before I was hired I was definite about what I wanted, which was that I didn’t want to present rigid, literal programmes written in advance. I had a number of conditions, one of which was that they didn’t force me to read out anything I wasn’t convinced of. So I was surprised that they accepted me for the job. The first episode was a reading and discussion of a book by Spengler.

Of course, good looks open doors, for men and women, not only for women, and there you have the example of the Kennedy family. But appearances only get you to the door; the rest is up to the individual.

Have you experienced negative discrimination as a woman?

There is a presumption in society that women are not adequate or competent. A few moments ago I told the story of the staff in the Chamber of Deputies leading me to the guest balconies because they couldn’t imagine a woman being a deputy.

I have also encountered negative discrimination in another form. Many people told me after the elections in which I didn’t win a seat that they hadn’t voted for me because they didn’t expect me to succeed. It was because of a preconception that a woman would not succeed, and so they were scared of wasting their votes. They put their desire for reform and a deputy who would represent them above their convictions about me as a suitable person.

Has there ever been a moment when you regretted being a woman?

Never. I am proud of my femininity and have always felt that I was born to be what I am. I appreciate my femininity, and at the same time appreciate being a citizen.

What would you say to women in our society?

This isn’t advice specifically for women but I would like to refer to something that Socrates said: “Know thyself.” In order to be happy and succeed in life a person must know himself well. I would advise women specifically to behave as people, in their being, and not only as women. And here I touch on a side issue, namely the pre-arranged plans that are made for women – marriage, family, etc. – which, as long as they wait for these plans to be fulfilled, keep their ambitions in check.