Jordan Times
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Gender disparity remains
prevalent in MENA region — Al-Ali
AMMAN (JT) — Empowering women is a key factor in achieving the socio-economic
development of societies in the Middle East and North Africa, Minister of
Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali said at the Women’s
Democracy Network (WDM) Regional Conference on Wednesday.
Despite the commitment made by countries of the region to gender equality at the
UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, Al-Ali said that gender disparity
remains prevalent throughout the region, and gender gaps persist in access to
education and quality healthcare, employment and business opportunities,
political participation and decision making.
She said the government continues to focus on reforming education, upgrading
healthcare, improve living conditions and has laid the foundations for gender
mainstreaming efforts at policy and institutional levels.
“The government has also embarked on a legal reform process that ensures women’s
full participation in the political spheres to contribute to decision-making in
the economic and social development process,” Al-Ali said.
She noted that gender equality can be achieved when the legal climate allows for
women’s participation in government, business, and civil society.
Although women in Jordan enjoy full freedom in participating in public life,
including the right to vote and run for elections, she noted that they
constitute less than 10 per cent of existing political parties’ founding members
and are less than 25 per cent of professional associations’ members.
“Despite our very good record of gender parity in education, the actual level of
female labour force participation is about half of its potential, as only 13 per
cent of Jordanian women are economically active in the formal sector,” the
minister said, adding that while the overall unemployment rate is about 15 per
cent, it stands at 26 per cent for women, compared to 13 per cent for men.
The two-day conference brings together approximately 30 women leaders from the
region and the United States to share ideas and experiences about empowering
women for greater participation in politics and civil society.
Participants at the event will discuss the challenges and the opportunities for
women in politics in their countries, and introduce further networking
activities in the MENA region and across borders.
Al-Ali said the ministry had been actively engaged in promoting women’s
empowerment, citing the First High Level Policy Forum on Gender organised
recently under the Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania.
The forum put forward action plans to enhance women’s participation in the
labour force, through integrating gender issues into the reform agenda, and
presenting a new approach to promote women’s economic advancement and political
participation.
“The forum also highlighted the importance of creating partnerships among
government agencies, businesses, and local NGOs to provide training, mentoring
and income generating projects targeted at engaging women in fast-growing new
sectors, as well as micro-credit and SMEs loans to entrepreneurial women in
rural areas, villages and towns all over the Kingdom,” Al-Ali added.
Established in 2006 by the International Republican Institute, the conference
organiser, the WDM aims to empower women activists and leaders from around the
world by providing them with opportunities to share experiences and create
regional networks.
The WDM works in Africa, Asia, Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean,
the Middle East, and North America.