AMMAN — The
World Bank confirmed its
readiness to sup-port improving indicators of women’s economic participation in
Jordan, explaining that “the Jordanian economy cannot grow if nearly half of
its population suffers from unemployment,” according to Al-Mamlaka TV.
اضافة اعلان
New data published by the World Bank showed that the
rate of female economic participation in the labor force in Jordan has declined
to 13.5 percent last year, down from 16.1 percent in 2010, while it was 62.3
per-cent for men last year, compared to 61.3 percent in year 2010.
Jordan’s ranking in the World Bank’s Women, Business
and the Law Report for the current year stood at a modest 46.9 points out of
100, after it had increased last year by six points compared to the 2020
ranking. The report indicated that the overall score for Jordan was lower than
the regional average observed in
MENA, which is 53, where the maximum score
observed in the region was in Malta at 88.8.
World Bank Resident Representative of the World Bank
in
Jordan Holly Benner said during a session on the Women, Business and the Law
2022 report on Tuesday, that the rate of women’s participation in the labor
force in Jordan are among the lowest in the world, explaining that “it reached
15 percent during the past decade, compared to the global aver-age of 47
percent.”
Benner added that “the World Bank considers the low
rates of women’s economic participation as one of the great development
challenges in Jordan,” noting that recent World Bank studies indicated that
women’s participation in the labor force in Jordan is limited by several
factors. These include a lack of job opportunities in the private sector,
social traditions, skills mismatches with the job opportunities, lack of
high-quality childcare services, absence of safe and reliable transportation,
and the lack of an enabling legal-political framework as a base.
Benner said that “promoting economic opportunities
for women is a fundamental base of the World Bank Group’s work in Jordan,”
explaining that the bank is working on improving economic job opportunities for
women in all of its governorates, and creating job opportunities, social
protection, business support, and financing legal reforms, thanks to the
contributions of many partners.
Benner emphasized
that the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law report 2022 can be a useful
tool, as many countries have used it to identify and address reforms that can
contribute to improving women’s economic participation rates.
Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Head of the
Ministerial Committee for the Empowerment of Women, Wafaa Bani Mustafa, said
during the session that the government “does not deny that the rate of economic
participation for women is low and does not exceed in 14.3 percent, but she
added that “what we need are to adopt more amendments to legislations.”
“The more we develop the work environment and update
and improve the working conditions, in partnership with the private sector,
which opens employment opportunities, the better the opportunities will be in
terms of the work environment and the restrictions imposed on work and in terms
of nurseries and childcare places,” according to the minister.
She stressed that Jordan, represented by the
Ministerial Committee for the Empowerment of Women, seeks, through the Economic
Modernization Vision to focus on linking women’s issues and their economic
empowerment with the vision’s initiatives.
Bani Mustafa pointed that Jordan is on the path of
reform, especially after the recent amendments to the Constitution and the
gains that women have enjoyed in all legislations.
According to the bank’s data, the expected number of
years of schooling adjusted according to the amount of education for women in
Jordan was 8.10 school years in 2020, while for men it was 7.24 years, compared
to 8.35 years for women and 7.44 years for men in 2010, while the completion
rate of the preparatory stage for women decreased from 84.4 per-cent in the year 2010 to 67 percent in
the year 2020, and for men also from 81.1 percent in the year 2010 to 65.7
percent in the year 2020.
Regarding restrictions on freedom of movement, the
report said that Jordan maintained its ranking at 25 out of 100, after allowing
women to apply for a passport in the same way as men.
The report contrasted a number of indicators and
legal differences be-tween men and women in several areas, where it remained at
zero out of 100 regarding laws that affect women’s decisions at work, and stood
at 75 points out of 100 in laws affecting women’s wages for the second year in
a row.
Regarding restrictions related to marriage, Jordan remained
flat again at a point of 20 out of 100, and 40 points out of 100 in laws
affecting women’s work after childbirth, and remained at a 40 out of 100 in
gen-der differences in property and inheritance.
Read more National news
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
