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‘Security used as pretext to put women's rights on back burner’

By Rana Husseini - Mar 09,2016 - Last updated at Mar 10,2016

AMMAN — The women’s movement in Jordan on Wednesday said security and terrorism issues in the region are being used as an excuse by the government to hinder women’s advancement in the Kingdom.

“For the past five years, we have been receiving this attitude from the government — that because of the [regional] crisis we have to wait because women’s issues are not a priority,” Jordanian National Commission for Women Secretary General Salma Nims said.

“Obviously we have issues with the political will in Jordan and it [has become] apparent to us that there is a serious belief that women’s political participation is not important,” Nims added at a roundtable on ''EU support to Gender Equality in Jordan'' as part of the EU Gender Action Plan to commemorate the International Women's Day.

Laila Naffa, of the Arab Women Organisation, agreed with Nims.

“The government uses the security issue to ask us to shut up, but we will not shut up of course. This really creates more challenges to our work,” Naffa said.

“We usually write Jordan’s shadow report on CEDAW [Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women] and mention the progress, but we really cannot find anything positive to include in our report,” she added.

MP Hind Fayez (Central Badia) also argued that there is no political will to empower women and that there is a strong force in Parliament and other entities to fight against women’s rights.

“I also don't believe that the government is serious about advancing women’s rights. In my opinion it is all slogans meant to appease the West,” Fayez charged.

Meanwhile, other activists tackled various problems that face women in Jordan.

“The education level is high, but the knowledge level is low and women in general do not have good knowledge of their rights,” activist and filmmaker Ghada Saba said.

MP Rula Hroub (Stronger Jordan list) said Jordanian women are still being considered “half citizens” and gave the example of the nationality law, which does not allow Jordanian women to pass on citizenship to their children or spouses, a right that is fully enjoyed by Jordanian men.

“Women are considered as followers. How can the children of a Jordanian woman respect her if she is incapable of passing on her citizenship to them?” Hroub asked.

Sahar Aloul, from Sadaqa campaign that works to ensure the presence of crèches at workplaces for working women, said that the focus should also be on pay equality.

“There is a huge discrepancy between the wages of men and women in the labour market. This is something that needs to be addressed if we want to empower women,” Aloul noted.

EU Ambassador to Jordan Andrea Matteo Fontana said in his opening remarks that the aim of the gathering is to encourage debate on EU support to gender equality projects in Jordan.

“Jordan needs more of these debates to learn more about the priorities and what to focus on in terms of the EU and the civil society, and ways to increase women’s political participation,” Fontana told the gathering.

The EU ambassador added that one of the main areas of the gender equality plan that was adopted by the EU last year is to “ensure the mental and physical integrity of women and girls”.

“We also aim to promote the social and economic rights of women and girls in their own communities,” Fontana stressed.

He added that one more goal is to strengthen the voice and participation of women, including in rural areas, in all aspects of life.

Several EU member state ambassadors, women activists, civil society representatives, social media activists and journalists also attended the roundtable.

Italian Ambassador to Jordan Giovanni Brauzzi said that addressing gender-based violence should be a primary matter “and without it, everything else is irrelevant”.

“I come from a country which has suffered a lot from this issue and we are still learning a lot from this deeply rooted phenomenon,” Brauzzi added.

Swedish Ambassador to Jordan Helena Gröndahl Rietz said the responsibility to ensure gender equality is up to both men and women.

 

“We all agree that gender equality is an inclusive package, because gender equality is not about the rights of women at the expense of other rights, and gender equality is not possible without the involvement of men,” Rietz stressed.

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