AMMAN
— A position paper from the National Committee for Women’s Affairs on
Tuesday said that despite the government’s adoption of the “National Strategy
for Women in Jordan 2020-2025,” the political drive to close the gender gap in
Jordan is lacking.
اضافة اعلان
The paper
pointed out that women were absent in decision making and planning when it came
to responding to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The paper also highlighted that the
curfew exacerbated the burdens placed on women, specifically when it came to
care, and increased rates of violence against women, as well as made it harder
to access civil society organizations and law enforcement.
The paper,
which was organized in cooperation with Taghyeer Project’s “A new consultive
approach to support human rights” and implemented by the Center for Protection
and Freedom of Journalists, looked at several different aspects of disparity
between men and women in Jordan. These included the pandemic’s effects on the
gender gap, economic disparity between men and women, and rates of underage
marriage.
It found
that one such factor impairing female workers in the private sector was that
many were unable to receive their salaries through direct deposit.
In addition,
an opinion poll, conducted by the committee and the International Labor
Organization, assessed the use of direct deposit payments and e-wallets, and showed
that 58 percent of men and 57 percent of women chose not to create accounts on
these wallets. Most workers in the private sector have also reported that they
had difficulty registering on them.
The report also
showed that the pandemic has severely affected those working as day laborers
and in unorganized businesses, especially agricultural workers. Many of the
women working in these sectors were often deprived of social security coverage,
according to the paper.
It also pointed
out the importance of amending Article (12) of the Labor Law to exempt non-citizen children of Jordanian mothers from
work permits, adding that they should be given the right to work without any
restrictions and be given equal treatment to Jordanian citizens.
Turning to COVID-19,
the committee found that the pandemic exacerbated the problems facing women,
and the paper stressed the need to set women and children as a priority when
setting up plans and policies in combating the pandemic.
The report
suggested expanding the scope of their rights and supporting their
participation in public affairs, while putting more effort into protecting
women from violence and easing their access to justice.
It also
discussed the consequences of the pandemic on education, pointing out that the
committee has spoken to the government “many times” about the dangers of keeping
schools closed and its impact on deepening the gap in quality education.
The
committee added that closed schools also serve to isolate girls, particularly
in marginalized areas, where there is no access to the internet.
Turning to
underage marriages, the paper noted that the Department of the Chief Justice’s annual report showed
that marriage rates for those under 18 increased from 11.1 percent in 2019 to
11.8 percent last year.
The
committee underlined the importance of strengthening institutional partnerships
with local human rights actors to help empower women.
It also
added that the concerned institutions are responsible for limiting the spread
of gender-based violence and are responsible for responding quickly to cases of
violence against women and children by taking preemptive measurements to
provide protection and safety.
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