AMMAN — Legislation on sexual harassment, an
on-going ill-mannered societal pattern in Jordan, present both on the streets
and on social media platforms, remains elastic and indecisive, which deprives
women of seeking legal aid according to
Jordanian National Commission for Women(JNCW).
اضافة اعلان
A survey conducted by
the JNCW, 75.9 percent of 1,366 mainly-women respondents reported experiencing
sexual harassment at some point in their lives.
“Here at JNCW, we are
not a monitoring agency or a service provider; we do not have a hotline where
we receive complaints officially, nevertheless, we occasionally get notified on
social media platforms regarding issues on harassment,” said secretary general of
the organization, Salma Nims, in an interview with
Jordan News.
“There are organizations that give legal support
such as the
Justice Center for Legal Aid (JCLA), Sisterhood Is Global Institute
(SIGI), and Mizan”, she adds.
According to Nims, women in Jordan usually
refrain from reporting cases of
sexual harassment as it is not like domestic
violence or abuse; in such cases they seek help from organizations such as Jordan’s
Women Union.
In remarks to
Jordan News, women’s rights advocate Dima Al-Kharabsheh said: “In Jordan, we do not have a
law to combat harassment, and it is only considered to be an act of ignominy. A
major controversy occurred at the Lower House over this issue of harassment three
years ago.”
JNCW attempted to establish mobile applications
to document cases of sexual harassment; however, it found no consensus from the
National Team for Family Protection against Violence.
“We are aiming to utilize the application to
provide women subjected to this form of harassment the opportunity to report
it, and include information on its category being verbal harassment, physical
acts, following or stalking, intentional invasion of personal space, or cyber
harassment,” she explained.
According to Nims, JNCW aimed to add a feature
on the application to allow for a picture to be taken in the time of
harassment, as well as a GPS to document the location of the harassment, but according
to the National Team, this would create social instability and women would be
subjected to more stress or harm. Due to this, the app was not
pursued.
“I personally believe the application is a
crucial tool, as it was utilized in India and Egypt, and was successful in both
countries,” said Nims. “It allows us to get a general idea on the occurrence of
the harassment in terms of the when and where.”
“The JNCW is a policy level organization, and we
have a referral hotline to provide support to women, by directing them to the
service provider, whether its civil society organization or law enforcement,”
explains Nims. “In urgent situations, we make the extra calls to the specific
service providers to ensure that the cases are getting the attention they
need,” she added.
According to a study carried out by JNCW four
years ago, 89 percent of men and women who were interviewed were subjected to cyber
harassment, making it one of the most common forms of harassment.
Further statistics from the study mention that
about 11 percent of women quit their jobs because of being harassed in the
workplace.
There remains to be a lack of legislations and
procedures to protect women who are being subjected to sexual harassment in the
work place, which renders women facing only one option and that is to quit the job.
A report published by the
International Labor Organization (ILO) pointed out that work places are key to developing self-realization, and work is fundamental
for it, as well as improvement of income and family conditions. It is essential
to advance workplaces through mechanisms ensuring the work environment is free
from violence and harassment.
Activists pointed to social pressure exerted on women which
results in a great deal of hesitancy to report cases of harassment and abuse.
Furthermore, societal norms are playing a major role in making sexual
harassment an “act of masculinity”.
“There is a culture of relating sexually
harassing a woman to masculinity, and unfortunately this concept has been
nurtured between young men, and many feel they are flattering a woman with
compliments in this way,” opined Nims.
“Women are not advised to report cases of sexual harassment and
abuse in fear of jeopardizing their reputation,” said Kharabsheh.
In an interview with
Jordan News, Head of Women
Studies Center at Jordan University Maysoon Al- Otoum said: “At times a student
finds herself exposed to harassment from a professor and cannot speak up since
she will be repressed; unless there is concrete evidence. Many young ladies
choose to stay quiet.”
“Women often feel there is a greater loss than
gain if they submit complaints on being harassed, however, as the head of the
Women Studies Center at Jordan University, I am astonished by the amount of
students and faculty members that approach me regarding situations of this
sort,” Otoum added.
Activists underlined that sexual harassment and
abuse isolates women, and impacts their behavior in public spaces, which
requires them to be more vigilant to minimize their exposure to harassment.
Sexual harassment is taking place both in the
virtual and real world. Many women are subjected to cyber sexual harassment and
deal with blackmail, or unwarranted explicit photos, texts, and comments sent
to them, and many end up closing or deactivating their social media accounts,
or exposing the perpetrator for awareness.
“Regarding cyber harassment in Jordan, there
have been campaigns to expose offenders of such acts on social media,” said
Kharabsheh.
“Perpetrators have used social media to gain
access and create fake aliases as a front of their disgusting acts, which is
considered to be an ongoing issue,” Otoum said.
Alia Faris, a 28 years old with a social media
following of 16,000, referring to herself as a daughter, sister, cousin, and
friend, told
Jordan News: “I have struggled with body image issues for the majority
of my life, and as a driver of change, and public figure, I am often exposed to
ill-mannered comments on my social media posts, and provocative text messages
regarding my figure.”
“Facial and cosmetic surgeons and nutritionists
often approach me with offers of procedures or diet plans they feel that I
need, and I truly feel harassed by such behavior,” Faris added.
Activists object to the alibi stating that
women’s clothing is the main cause of harassment, only to be contradicted by a
documented video of a modestly clothed woman subjected to an act harassment.
Kharabsheh pointed that Middle Eastern countries
which are labeled as being conservative tend to see higher rates of sexual
harassment despite social restriction of women appearances and behavior.
“The first step to reduce the rate of sexual harassment is when
official institutions put men and women in equality, and a woman is able to
hold leadership positions …,” she argued.
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