Possible interpretations

Oct 26,2016 - Last updated at Oct 26,2016

I refer to the article “The Sixth Discussion Paper from a gender perspective” (The Jordan Times, October 23, 2016) and wish to thank the authors for the excellent critique dealing with Jordanian citizenship as it applies to women.

As they dissected the Arabic and English texts of the paper, I was astonished at the different interpretations that were possible. I thank them for bringing this to the readers’ attention.

I know it was Jordan’s tribal past that enabled the people here to survive; however, now the country needs to balance these traditions with the requirements of modern statehood.

This is a challenge for the country on many levels, one of which is that women were considered to be the collective property of the tribe. In today’s world, sidelining and marginalising female citizens is to disregard the contributions and involvement of half of Jordan’s population.

Certainly the nation as a whole will continue to suffer a great loss if this is allowed to continue.

Ann Sawalha,
Amman

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