Jordan's ambitious push for gender equality

The beacon of women's empowerment lives right at the heart of Jordan. 

On Instagram, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah has her own Insta Story Highlighttitled "empowerment" and the self-description of the wife of King Abdullah II is "a mum and a wife with a really cool day job."

Queen Rania was also one of the most prominent figures who supported the amendment of the kingdom's constitution in favor of female Jordanians.

Last week, the senate approved the change of article 6.

Officially, the constitution now says that "Jordanian men and women shall be equal before the law. There shall be no discrimination between them as regards to their rights and duties on grounds of race, language or religion". The previous article simple read "Jordanians" without any further specification. 

That amendment is in line with the government's official goal to achieve gender equality by 2030. 

It's an ambitious target and likely hard to achieve in just a few years' time. Even now, it's unclear how a breach of article 6 would be sanctioned.

On social media, heated debates indicate that the change is controversial. The conflict over the amendment already peaked in a brawl in parliament last December.

After the MP Raed al-Smirat had called the entire discussion a "disgrace", parliamentary chairman Abdalkarim al-Dughmi had excluded him from the debate. In turn, a brawl broke out that went viral on social media. 

In the end though, 94 of the 130 deputies voted for the amendment while 26 voted against it.

"It was a historic moment that I will not forget as long as I live," Wafa Bani Mustafa, the Jordanian Minister of State for Legal Affairs, told DW. "This is the first time since the establishment of the state that women have been placed in the highest document in the state and in the title of the chapter on rights and duties."

Yet the brawl in parliament showed that women's empowerment is neither an easy, nor a simple task in Jordan, she said.

"But the important thing is that we were able to do so."

Not enough

"A lot has changed since women received the right to vote in 1974, and since the first time that women entered parliament in 1993," Bani Mustafa recalls.

Still, women activists fear that the new amendment could be more lip-service than real progress.

"The government must take the reform and development steps seriously if gender equality is to be truly achieved," Rawan Jayyousi, a Jordanian journalist who covers women's affairs, told DW. 

"This requires a comprehensive perspective that is reflected in education, culture, legislation and implementation of programs to protect against violence and harassment as well as to promote economic empowerment."

One of the most controversial differences between men and women is the right to pass on Jordanian nationality to children. Currently, the law limits it — like in many other Mideast countries — to children of Jordanian fathers.

However, more than 110,000 Jordanian women are married to non-Jordanian men, including around 55,000 displaced Palestinian.

"In violation of international human rights law, which obliges Jordan not to discriminate against women, Jordanian law allows only fathers to pass citizenship to their children," Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. 

Yet, given the influence that Islamic Sharia Law has in Jordan, it is unlikely that this will be changed anytime soon. 

It is more realistic to expect changes in other areas such as Jordan's significant gender pay gap or women's participation in the workforce.

Jordan has some of the highest numbers of female university graduates in the region and at the same time some of the lowest number of women in the workforce.

Pandemic exacerbates structural hardships

As Mideast researcher Zoe H. Robbin highlighted in her most recent piece for the US-based Middle East Institute, Jordan has the lowest rate of women's economic participation "of any country not at war."

These numbers are confirmed by the International Labor Organisation (ILO) that states that Jordan's female labor force participation (15%) is lower than in neighboring Lebanon (23%), Saudi Arabia (22%), the West Bank and Gaza (18%).

This is echoed by the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 which ranks Jordan behind regional neighbours like Tunisia or Egypt. 

According to a survey by Arab Barometer in March 2021, the on-going COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the existing structural problems.

According to the study, social expectations, the lack of childcare, and an average monthly salary of $270 USD for women make childcare basically unaffordable.

In addition, a lack of safe and affordable public transportation are also discouraging women from entering the workforce.

And yet, at a closer look, the situation on the ground has gradually gotten better.

Women for women

"I've seen a significant uptick of women in business in the past ten years," Deema Anani, head of the Digital Arabia Network in Amman and Founding member of the Young Entrepreneurs Association, told DW.

At the same time, she observes that so far, this change can only be observed in the country's cities. 

"Life and the perception of women is different in the countryside and this affects statistics of Jordan," she said.

However, for the capital Amman, Anani sees a huge increase of women who are self-employed. "Online services in the food and beverage sector are mushrooming and most of these solo entrepreneurs are women," she told DW. Such solo enterprises are often though not registered as employment in statistics. 

For Anani, the next step is to get more women into executive leagues of other industries as well. "I see an increase, albeit a slow one," she said.

Support for women is also offered by the National Commission for Women.

Another important player when it comes to women's empowerment is UN Women Jordan and their most recently launched "Women's Empowerment Principles Jordan Network" which is to complement the government's target for 2030.  

"UN Women will utilize this opportunity to further encourage women's leadership and political participation, raise public awareness and understanding of the amendments and the implications for political life in Jordan," the regional spokesperson told DW. 

For Anani, all these initiatives and steps contribute to a better future for women in Jordan.

"I am convinced that we will see and feel the difference in the next generation. We are doing this for our daughters."