العربية
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Eng. Atef Al-Tarawneh affirmed that the parliament is determined to proceed with the empowerment of women, pointing to the enactment of legislation that were in this direction. He said, “We believe in the importance of collective and cooperative work in promoting women’s rights,and we are honored that the Jordanian Parliament hosts the Coalition of Women MPs from Arab Countries to Combat Violence against Women.” He also affirmed his readiness, as the Speaker of the House and the President of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, to provide all aspects of support for the various activities of the “Coalition”.
This came during his patronage on December 2, 2019, of a meeting of Arab women parliamentarians entitled “Discrimination Based on Gender,” at the House of Representatives. The event was organized by the Coalition in cooperation with King Hussein Foundation, UNWOMEN and the Dutch Embassy in Amman. A number of women parliamentarians from Egypt, Palestine, Algeria and Tunisia participated in the event.
Al-Tarawneh said that the issue of promoting women’s rights has always received attention and care at various levels in the Kingdom, pointing out to the importance of discussing the issue of gender discrimination. He pointed to the issue of supporting and empowering Palestinian women, who have suffered from the oppression of the occupier, unlike other women in the world, stressing the need to transfer their grievance to the whole world. He called for shedding the light on the burdens incurred by Jordan as a result of the successive influxes of refugees, the last of which is the influx of Syrian refugees, explaining that Jordan “has never abandoned providing support and care to the Syrian refugees.”
As for the Jordanian women, Al- Tarawneh said “They have always gained attention and appreciation from His Majesty King Abdullah II, who always gives direction to provide them with various means of support and empowerment.”
He referred to the legislation approved by the House of Representatives for the benefit of women, including but not limited to the laws of civil retirement and income tax. “Under these laws, women were recognized as breadwinners, and for the first time given the right to obtain tax exemptions, as well as the right to bequeath their salary to the heirs.” he said.
Al-Tarawneh continued explaining how amendments made to the Labor law brought justice to women, and ensured equal pay for equal work, meaning that any discrimination on the basis of gender in the workplace will be criminalized within the law. He also added that other amendments to the labor law were adopted aimed at empowering and motivating women by introducing the concept of flexible and part-time work.
He pointed out that the House of Representatives also passed legislation related to children of Jordanian women married to non-Jordanians and people of the Gaza Strip, through which they were exempted from obtaining work permits. He also pointed out that the House of Representatives passed the Protection from Family Violence law, with the aim of promoting stability and reassurance for the individual, family and society; improving the means and procedures of protecting the family from violence; and providing families with psychological and social counseling services.
While expressing his hope that the participants in this meeting will come up with recommendations that contribute to more support and empowerment for women and the elimination of various forms of discrimination against them, he affirmed the support of the House of Representatives to the recommendations.
In her turn, the Chairperson of the Coalition of Women MPs to Combat Violence against Women, MP Wafaa Bani Mustafa, said that despite what had been implemented of laws and legislation that are in the interest of women, we are wondering, “Are we in a state of contentment about what has been accomplished? Did these achievements help in abolishing discrimination against woman?” She called for spotting the defect to decrease the gap in abolishing all forms of gender discrimination and said: “There is a huge gender gap, as Jordan ranked ninth regionally in the global report which was issued by the World Economic Forum.” She explained that the study offered by the Information and Research Center at King Hussein Foundation will show the defect and the roots of gender discrimination.
She pointed to the accomplishments and challenges faced by the states of Palestine, Egypt and Algeria regarding the issue of “eliminating discrimination based on gender”, stressing at the same time the need to benefit from the experiences of other countries in this field including Tunisia. “Despite Jordan’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the challenges remain great, including: the prevailing view of society towards women; the regional challenges and conflicts, in addition to the economic recession that contributed to hinder considering justice for women a priority.” She said.
She also pointed out that the participation of women in the labor market remains insignificant, and women are not allowed to pass their nationality to their children.
And she called for the importance of amending the constitution, so that the word “gender” be added to its sixth article, which tackles equality between Jordanians.
The Chairperson of the Women Caucus, Dr. Sabah Al-Shaar, referred to the legislation approved by the House of Representatives in this regard, including the amendments to the Protection from Family Violence law No. 15 of 2017, abolishing Article 308 from the penal law, abolishing the mitigating excuse for honor crimes from Article 98 and amending Articles 305 and 306 to condemn harassment. She also pointed to the amendments that have also been made to the Labor Law including: imposing the establishment of nurseries for children in the workplace, criminalizing unequal pay on the basis of gender for work of equal value, passing the definition of flexible work and part-time work, raising the rate of leaves, and allowing paternity leave. She also touched on the amendments included in the Social Security Law No. (24) for the year 2019 including: allowing women to pass on their salary to the husband and children, and raising the early retirement age for females to 52 for 228 contributions.
She indicated that the caucus made field visits to several associations concerned with women to highlight their entrepreneurial work, and also held meetings with members of decentralization in several governorates to highlight the challenges facing them and to discuss the decentralization law with them.
Al-Shaar said: “Despite the achievements, violence continues, especially domestic violence.” She continued: “The statistics of “Tadamon” show that family crimes against women and girls have reached 21 crimes since the beginning of the current year (2019), an increase of 200 percent compared to the same period in 2018.” She pointed out that this percentage indicates a major social problem and said: “Therefore we need to review the school curricula and promote the concept of human, women’s and children’s rights in the educational process, we need to spread awareness, we need to change the mindsets of the society and also to increase women’s economic and political participation.” She stressed that the presence of women in decision-making positions will bring more social justice for women and the family.
The Representative of UNWomen in Jordan, Ziad Al-Sheikh, praised the important success achieved by Jordan in facing gender-based discrimination through the amendments to the Labor Law and the Law of Protection from Family Violence, pointing to the need to confront several issues in parallel with this success, including wrong customs and perceptions. “Changing behavior patterns takes a lot of time.” he said. Al Sheikh also stressed that gender equality is an important component of sustainable development, and pointed out that UNWomen is committed to Jordan’s support in moving forward with regard to women’s rights.
A representative of the Netherlands Embassy in Amman, Mark Hessler, said that all participants in the session are important partners to the embassy, expressing his admiration for the presence of women who are not only defending their issues but also equality issues for all women. He pointed out that the research conducted by King Hussein Foundation is supported by the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to identify areas in need of support, expressing his appreciation of Jordan’s efforts in achieving gender equality.
Hessler stressed the need to create a gender-friendly awareness, and the need for a holistic methodology for the inclusion of men in the process of gender equality, pointing out that equality is not a zero-sum game, but everyone gains through it.
The meeting included sessions facilitated by Dr. Sawsan Al-Majali and Wafa Bani Mustafa, in which they discussed the results of the study issued by the Information and Research Center at King Hussein Foundation entitled “Gender discrimination in Jordan.” The study aims to tackle the root causes of inequality between Men and women in Jordan, make recommendations to improve gender equality, and it is based on a comprehensive literature and legislation review in addition to conducting 15 in-depth interviews with experts.
The sessions also discussed the gaps of the personal status law and women’s rights by expert Marwa Sharaf Al-Din, from Musawah.
During the meeting, the Secretary General of JNCW, Dr. Salma Al-Nems provided insights of their findings at the commission and the challenges facing them. Aida Al-Saeed and Jood Sajdi explained to the audience the basic findings of the study on behalf of the Information and Research Center.
In an exclusive session, parliamentarians from Tunisia, Palestine, Algeria, and Egypt spoke about the challenges facing women in their countries as well as successful achievements in terms of women’s rights.
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