Panel session held on women's economic participation

AMMAN — There are gender and geographical gaps that hinder the economic participation of women, Minister of Labour and Minister of State for Investment Affairs Maen Qatamin has said. 

In a ministry statement issued on Thursday, cited by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Qatamin highlighted the importance of creating a database on women employment. 

During a recently held discussion panel, titled "Female business and professional owners and their contribution to service sectors: growth aspects and policies of protection and support",  the minister said that the government had offered JD350,000 as loans to support the youth entrepreneurship in ICT.

During the panel, organised virtually by the Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women in cooperation with the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIDE), Qatamin referred to the government's allocation of JD200 million to protect the jobs of 180,000 Jordanians under the programme "Himayah" (protection). 

For his part, Jamal Rifai, deputy chairman of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce and representative of the service sector, said that the service sector includes some 50 sub-sectors that were "badly" affected by the COVID-19 repercussions, noting that these sectors contribute about one-third to the GDP and employ more than 17 per cent of Jordanians.  

During the event, which attracted some 100 participants from Jordan and abroad, Rifai said that some 13 per cent of registered companies are either owned by women or have women as board members, adding that the biggest challenge to the sector is insufficient liquidity and low demand. 

Taghrid Nafissi, head of the forum, highlighted the importance of enhancing consultation solutions between business support institutions and the government in cooperation with relevant international organisations. 

Karim Shaban, CIDE head, highlighted the importance of such panels, especially during crises, in reaching solutions, commending partnership with stakeholders in Jordan in the effort to overcome the crisis.