Conference brings gendered perspective to national reform process

AMMAN — In step with the Kingdom’s three-dimensional path to modernisation, the National Conference on Women’s Paths in the Modernisation Visions brings into focus Jordan’s perseverance to position women well within the development and reform processes.

Held under the patronage of HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal on Wednesday, the two-day conference — which kicked off on Friday — covered several topics, most importantly the modernisation process from a gendered perspective and the role of media, legislation, education and digitalisation in promoting women’s opportunities in the three pathways to modernisation.

In her address on day one, Minister of Social Development and Head of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Women’s Empowerment Wafaa Bani Mustafa, indicated that “women’s issues are a national matter and women’s empowerment is the empowerment of an entire society”.

Following the launch of the Royal Committee to Modernise the Political System, the Economic Modernisation Vision and the Public Sector Modernisation roadmap, the government has opted to make additional efforts to study the intersection of women’s empowerment and the political, economic and public sector modernisation processes, according to the minister.

Further, Bani Mustafa pointed to the efforts undertaken by the inter-ministerial committee to integrate a women-specific agenda with Jordan’s three-dimensional vision.

Progress has been made on the political track through conducting a series of conferences, consultations and meetings with relevant stakeholders to enhance women’s political participation. Also, the school of women’s political engagement was officially launched, marking another important signpost of progress, she said.

At the level of economic modernisation, “it was necessary to develop executive plans to integrate gendered perspectives into the Economic Modernisation Vision”, she added.

She noted that “Jordan has made a major breakthrough with regards to achieving several legislative reforms which have been instrumental in bringing focus to women’s issues”.

In this context, it is worth noting that Article six, Paragraph six of the Jordanian Constitution ensures that “The state guarantees the empowerment and support of women to play an active role in building society in a way that guarantees equal opportunities on the basis of justice and equity, and protects them from all forms of violence and discrimination”.

Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women Maha Al Ali pointed out that this conference comes at an important stage of Jordan’s journey towards development and reform.

According to Ali, “the National Conference on Women’s Paths in the Modernisation Visions sheds light on women’s primary role in building society, growing the economy and promoting democracy”.

Acting United Nations Resident Coordinator Dominik Bartsch likewise mentioned the importance of strengthening cooperation within the international community to support gender-related projects.

Along the same lines, UN Women Representative Nicolas Burniat highlighted that “this triple reform offers a unique opportunity to ensure that women are given equal opportunities in a modernised Jordan”.