Jordan: Women’s movement urged to push for motherhood fund

AMMAN - Labour Minister Bassem Salem on Sunday urged women’s groups to unite their efforts and push for a government-proposed amendment in the social security draft law to establish a motherhood fund.

“We need the active involvement of the women’s movement, because a fund would solve many problems for women seeking maternity leave and employers who do not hire young women for fear they would have to give them paid maternity leave,” Salem said.

The minister made the remarks during a lecture on women’s economic empowerment to mark International Women’s Day at the Amman Chamber of Industry.

The mechanism of a motherhood fund would consist of taking a small percentage of employees’ salaries, matched by a contribution from business owners, which would be used to pay working women during their maternity leave.

The Cabinet is expected to discuss the social security draft law on Tuesday, according to Salem.
Asma Khader, secretary general of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW), echoed the minister’s remarks saying a fund would solve a big problem for working women.
Khader said the government is trying to encourage women to get more involved in the national economy field in specific and the workforce in general.

“We should exert all efforts to encourage women to join the workforce and adopt friendly policies that encourage women to be active in the labour market,” Khader told the gathering.
She added that work needs to be focused on drafting legislation that protect women from discrimination and harassment at work because currently there are no laws protecting women from such violations.

The Department of Statistics (DoS) launched a booklet entitled, “Women and Men in Jordan in figures, 2008” on Sunday as part of the Kingdom’s celebration of International Women’s Day.
DoS figures indicate that the actual level of female labour force participation is about half its potential, with only 14.7 per cent of Jordanian women active in the formal sector.

Men’s participation in the labour market stood at 60 per cent, according to the figures.

Meanwhile, unemployment among women in Jordan stood at 25.6 per cent, while the official rate for men was 10.3 per cent, according to DoS.

Another government study released in February 2008 indicated that two-thirds of created jobs, or 66 per cent, were provided by the private sector, 29 per cent of which were taken by females. Of the jobs offered by the public sector, only 11 per cent went to female applicants.

Sunday’s event was organised by the JNCW and the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

By Rana Husseini, Jordan Times