Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali presides over a ceremony unveiling the findings of a new study on women’s empowerment. The study, carried out by the Department of Statistics, measured women’s empowerment across the 12 governorates (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Planning)
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN - A pioneering study mapping women’s empowerment in Jordan revealed that Karak and Madaba lead the Kingdom’s governorates in the percentage of economically active women.
The study also indicated that the governorates of Zarqa and Irbid scored the least percentages of women in this category.
The study, conducted by the Department of Statistics (DoS) aimed at shedding light on the levels and variations in women’s empowerment across the Kingdom’s 12 governorates as well as progress during 2004-2007.
The study’s findings were unveiled at a press conference yesterday at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, attended by female senators, members of Parliament, the secretary general of the Jordan National Committee for Women and the National Council for Family Affairs, as well as representatives of civil society organisations and women’s groups in Jordan.
The DoS used the Regional Gender Equality Index as a reference to measure levels of women’s participation in all areas of life and its development over the years using 17 categorised indicators that include education, economic and public participation, gender balance and average annual income.
“These initial findings will hopefully guide our future strategies as well as set the ground to discuss the outcome with experts and officials to expand the study to include more categories that would help us develop more conclusive findings,” Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali said yesterday.
She underlined the “strong political will” in Jordan to increase women’s empowerment, driven by the vision and support of their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania.
“This consequently will improve human development in its entirety in Jordan given that women constitute approximately half of the population, and thus a women’s role in advancing society becomes a national priority,” she said.
DoS Director General Haidar Freihat pointed to the fact that Jordan has pioneered efforts to improve the conditions of Arab women as part of comprehensive development, necessitating in-depth studies conducted on the subject of incorporating women into public life.
Freihat explained that the study depended on internationally recognised measurement tools in its methodology.
“It marks a new beginning in the field of measuring women’s participation compared to men, and allows for the transfer of Jordanian expertise and knowledge in this field to other Arab countries,” he added.
A national committee headed by the DoS, the Ministry of Planning, NGOs and experts will be building on this study to explore additional indicators in the future.
---Jordan Times
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