Government of Jordan committed to women’s political and economic empowerment

“Despite all that has been achieved, we still have many challenges to overcome including working to change incorrect social practices against women and revising and developing legislation related to them, such as the Elections Law,” reiterated by Jordan’s Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit. The premier was speaking to an audience at a forum organized by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in coordination with the World Bank. The one day High Level Policy Forum on Gender took place on January 14, 2007 in Amman, under the patronage of her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, and brought together an audience of more than 200 members of the Jordanian Cabinet, parliament, and civil society. The prime minister also announced the government’s plans to refer the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to Parliament for endorsement.

The Forum focused primarily on women’s economic empowerment and ways to expand female entrepreneurship. Findings from a 2005 World Bank study, titled: A Country Gender Assessment: the Economic Advancement of Women in Jordan indicate that female labor force participation is one of the lowest in the MENA region despite the fact that Jordan has achieved gender parity in primary and secondary enrollment and has one of the highest educated females in the region.

Speakers and participants brainstormed on various issues and solutions and best practices were explored to address such questions as, how can general laws and regulations be adjusted to treat male and female employees equally?  How can women's entrepreneurship be promoted to create jobs for the economy? And, how do traditional Gender roles affect the entry and attachment of women into the labor force?

High level speakers from around the world presented their own countries’ best practices that attempt to deal with balancing work and family life and talked about experiences with early wins and long term challenges to change society’s mindset about the role of women in the work force. MENA regional VP Daniela Gressani spoke at the opening session in addition to Baroness Elizabeth Symons, a member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. (For a full list of speakers see annex).

At a side meeting with the foreign delegates and the MNA regional VP, the Queen stressed that, “Women’s empowerment involves looking at three issues… There are cultural pressures, which involve changing perceptions; the legal environment, which is the most straightforward issue; and, creating an enabling environment for women to work in… The prime minister has made verbal commitments; the next step is to come up with a plan and tackle these issues one by one”.

In her closing speech, the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Suhair Al Ali summarized the key issues that were raised during the discussions and endorsed the Forum’s recommendations to focus on reforms in the areas of: legal and institutional barriers; cultural and social barriers; education and training; creating an enabling environment that encourages the private sector to employ women; and providing support to programs that provide counseling and legal services to women. The minister also supported empowering the quasi governmental NGO for women, the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) in terms of mandate and resources so as to enable it to implement its role as the national umbrella for all gender related activities and to be an advocate and a gender voice for initiating and monitoring the implementation of reform actions in the various areas that were raised. The JNCW ’s newly appointed Secretary General is H.E. Mrs. Asma Khadr, former government spokesperson and minister.

List of   Speakers and moderators

1. Reem Abu Hasan, President of International Women Forum Jordan Chapter, Jordan
2. Suhair Al Ali, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Jordan
3. Jamil Al-Nimri, Journalist, Jordan
4. Ambassador Nicole Ameline, Former Minister of Egalite & Parité Professionelle, France
5. Dr. Marouf Bakhit, Prime Minister, Jordan
6. Emma Bonino, Minister of International Trade and European Policies, Italy
7. Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor Office of the Chief Economist Middle East and North Africa Region, the World Bank
8. Nawal Fa’uri, (MP) Member of the Upper House, Jordan
9. Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Regional Program Director, UNIFEM
10. Daniela Gressani, Vice President Middle East and North Africa Region, the World Bank
11. Dr. Mohammad Halaiqa (moderator), (MP) Member of the Upper House and former Deputy Prime Minister, Jordan
12. Asma Khadr, Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women, Jordan
13. Efsa Kuraner, Civil Society representative, Republic of Turkey
14. Mustapha K. Nabli, Chief Economist Middle East and North Africa Region, the World Bank
15. Ambassador Patrick Renauld, Head of EC Delegation, Amman
16. Laila Sharaf, (MP) Member of the Upper House, Former Minister of Information, Jordan
17. Dr. Musa Shteiwi (moderator), Director of the Jordan Center for Social Research, and Regional Advisor for Social Policies for UNESCWA, Jordan
18. Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, UK
19. Dr. Khaled Toukan, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Jordan
20. Eugenia Tsoumani, Secretary General for Gender Equality, Greece