Jordan Times
Monday, August 2, 2004
Prime minister pledges
to strengthen women's rights
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN — Prime Minister Faisal Fayez on Sunday pledged to strengthen women's
citizenship rights and take effective measures to ensure good governance.
“We announce today that the government plans to
adopt and implement several measures to strengthen women's political, social and
economic participation in various decision making processes whilst at the same
time make the necessary amendments aimed at eliminating discrimination against
women,” Fayez said.
The minister's remarks came during the conclusion of the National Conference on
Political Development and Jordanian Women: Discourse and Mechanisms, a series of
activities organised by the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW).
Fayez said the government intends to apply gender-sensitive criteria standards
for civil servants employed in supervisory and leadership positions.
“These appointments will be conducted in the form of open competition with
transparent measures,” Fayez told over 1,200 representatives of government and
non-governmental organisations, deputies, political parties and youth.
The prime minister also pledged to implement disciplinary measures against any
government official who discriminates against women colleagues, supervised
staff, or any beneficiary from the services of the organisation at which the
official works.
Another important promise made by Fayez on behalf of the government related to
the drafting of a new electoral law that suggests doubling the quota of women
currently represented in the Lower House from six to 12 seats. A further
commitment was made to review the quota's percentage mechanisms.
In relation to political parties, the premier pledged to draft a law that will
require political parties to issue a clear statement of their policies and
oblige them to provide details of their positions in relation to women's issues.
The premier pledged to provide gender-desegregated data, and gender
mainstreaming in public institutions and in national and sector planning.
Fayez also promised to facilitate government measures for women who do not have
the necessary documentation, such as the family book, which entitles them to
obtain government assistance and services.
The premier was referring to wives who have been abandoned by their husbands,
and their spouses have taken or held the documents that would entail them to
claim government assistance.
He also pledged to amend government procedures that require women to have a
third party present in order to conduct certain government transactions.
JNCW Secretary General Amal Sabbagh praised the premier's pledges and described
them as important steps towards empowering women and at the same time meeting
the recommendations made by the conference's preparatory committee and the
participants.
“We are grateful to the prime minister for announcing the commitment of his
government regarding the recommendations that came out in the plan of action for
the political development of women,” Sabbagh told The Jordan Times.
Sabbagh added that the prime minister's commitments on Sunday are a precedent in
the Arab world.
“I believe that this is the first time in the Arab world and many other
countries, that a prime minister announces such commitments and pledges to
implement them,” Sabbagh said.
She added that the JNCW would do its utmost to cooperate with all the government
agencies involved in the measures that the government announced “to ensure that
those commitments are put in place.”
The JNCW activities included three panel discussions in the northern, central
and southern regions of the country, as well as a workshop for young people.
The aim of the activities was to further enhance the role of Jordanian women in
political development and to increase their participation in public and
political life.