The management of Radio al Balad has decided to offer free advertising time to all women candidates for the upcoming Jordanian parliament elections due to take place on November 10th. Etaf Roudan, radio manager, says “the initiative derives from the fact that we believe in the need to empower women in all sectors and especially the political sector where men are in control. We want to give women a chance to express their voice without any cost because we are aware that men spend much more money to promote themselves and other men.” A recent study by Rased-Hayat pointed to the fact the 73% of women support lists that have women candidates who have programs that deal with women’s issues. Nominations for the 19th Jordanian parliament this season include 368 female candidates at a percentage of 21% from the overall list of candidates. This is an increase of 46% from the previous parliamentary elections. In the 1974-2016 period women held 65 seats out of the 780 seats in the 11th to the 18th parliament which represents a percentage of 8.3% Women wishing to use this free opportunity for a 30 second ad can call the stations at these numbers 0796999570 - 4601216 - 4601204