Female lawmakers gather in Jordan to push for equality in politics

Some 260 women lawmakers from more than 60 countries have come together in Jordan to find ways to close a global gender gap in politics more quickly.

The founder of the “Women in Parliaments” network, former European legislator Silvana Koch-Mehrin, tells the conference that the gap remains wide. She says 80 percent of parliamentarians and 95% of heads of state in the world are men.

It is not clear if Israel, whose Knesset is 24% female, has a representative at the conference.

Participants say encouraging more women to get into local politics, pushing legislation to stamp out discrimination and setting quotas in parliaments help accelerate change.

They say studies show equality between men and women produces significant economic growth.

The conference in Jordan marks the first meeting of the parliamentarians in the Middle East, which scores lower than other regions on most aspects of gender equality.

— AP with Times of Israel