Empowering Women in Jordan

Earlier this month, a coalition of organizations began a gender equality campaign (including workplace equality) in Jordan. According to an article in the Jordan Times,

Sponsored by several organisations including the King Hussein Foundation, the Women’s Studies Centre at the University of Jordan and the Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development, GEC aims to change attitudes towards both men and women.

“We want to reach a point where a girl can walk down the street without anyone bothering her, and where a guy is able to enter a mall without having to accompany a girl,” Kilani told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

Symbolising this goal, the GEC logo consists of a pink strip, representing women, beside a blue strip for men, both the same length.

According to the press release, via Tololy's Box:

Gender Equality Campaign

This campaign was created as part of an initiative by a group of young Jordanians who are committed to the idea of justice and equality for the women and men of Jordan. The main purpose of the Gender Equality Campaign is to educate the public in Jordan about Women’s Rights and to mobilize the community to take action to address this human rights issue in Jordan.

The vision for the campaign is to increase the level of awareness and commitment to women’s rights in Jordanian society. Furthermore, the mission is to create a channel for a broad based dialogue about the rights and roles of women in Jordan.

Contact Details:

Lulwa Al-Kilani     Dina Liddawi

Gender Equality Campaigner   Gender Equality Campaigner

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +962 77 90 6 90 40   Telephone: +962 77 9999 187

As part of that campaign, volunteers took the conversation to the streets, literally, speaking with people about gender and equality. And yesterday, HRH Princess Basma spoke at a ceremony launching a

a joint Jordanian-Danish project on “engendering the public sphere”, Princess Basma expressed hope that the initiative will pave the way to improve the conditions of working women.

In her address, Princess Basma highlighted discrimination against women in the workplace.

She said previous experience by the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) in gender mainstreaming revealed that organisational cultures are often discriminatory and hinder gender equality within institutions and businesses.

Voicing optimism that the initiative will work to change this culture, the Princess said the project will address such imbalances and strengthen mechanisms within management structures in both the private and public sectors to address gender issues at policy-making and administrative levels.

Overcoming challenges that face women in the public sphere is of critical importance for the country to move forward, she noted.

Exciting developments.

MM