Overcoming traditional barriers to women’s political participation or any other facet of gaining their full rights is one area that has not yet been comprehensively tackled in many regions where traditions still form one of the main obstacles to women’s empowerment. Women can never overcome such barriers and the stereotypes that ensue on their own. There needs to be concerted efforts at various levels and from different actors (state, society, media, educational systems, etc…) to affect lasting change. However, women themselves need to go through a paradigm shift so as to overcome their own deep beliefs in the traditional roles assigned to them and, more importantly, the total confusion between traditions and religions that has resulted from patriarchal traditions often co-opting religious teachings. Sometimes when quota systems are adopted people regard them as anti-citizen equality as stipulated by constitutions, and it is here that women organizations need to work closely with the media to explain what the quota or affirmative action measure is about, how it would help women and society in general to overcome the equalities women have suffered from over the years. In societies where women voters outnumber male voters, yet there are no or very few women legislators, one needs to analyze the electoral system itself since often it would produce such a bias (e.g. a system that allows each citizen to vote for only one candidate would decrease women’s chances of getting enough votes). Family pressures on women to vote for a male candidate would hence produce a male-dominated or an only-male parliament. Such a system also does not rely heavily on having party lists; rather it encourages individuals who have the financial assets and some standing in their communities to run on their own. Women candidates who are hampered by lack of enough funding and who traditionally would not have equal standing to the male candidates would suffer. One also needs to look at the actual role that voters expect from their representatives. Often voters place more importance on their representatives acquiring services for them much more than on their legislative roles. In such cases men have wider networks to get such favours done (and to pay them back) than women. Hence men and women voters prefer to elect men who can deliver the services which could vary between getting jobs for their children or financial aid to poor families. Submitted by Amal Sabbagh, iKNOW Politics Expert and former Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women.