Women’s political and economic participation a ‘pressing necessity’ — Bani Mustafa

AMMAN — Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Head of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Women Empowerment Wafa Bani Mustafa stressed the need for progress on legislative justice for women.

This process should focus on legislation related to women’s political and economic participation, which has become a “pressing necessity” to increase household income, revive the economy and increase GDP, Bani Mustafa said, as reported by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The minister’s remarks came at the closing symposium held by the Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) and Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation on Sunday titled, “Women Business Owners Economically and Commercially on an Equal Footing with Men”, as part of a programme for Female Entrepreneurship and Empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Bani Mustafa said that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that the gender gap in Jordan’s labour force participation led to $8 billion loss in the value of GDP in 2018.

She also noted that UNICEF estimates that a 25 per cent increase in women’s participation in the Jordanian labour force over the next seven years will help Jordan’s GDP grow annually by 5 per cent.

As for Jordan’s ranking in economic participation, according to the World Bank’s 2021 Gender Gap Report, which measures countries’ performance in four areas of economic empowerment, political empowerment, health, and education, Bani Mustafa said that the Kingdom ranks 133 out of 156 countries.

The minister added that this ranking is an important indicator of increasing women’s economic participation and coordinating efforts with Jordan’s private sector to provide job opportunities, which would contribute to boosting women’s economic presence.

Bani Mustafa pointed out that the committee is aware of the importance of increasing Jordan’s ranking on global indicators, which is one of its most important priorities, as coordination has been made with the World Bank to discuss mechanisms to enhance Jordan’s position on its Women, Business and the Law report.

She noted that Jordan, represented by the committee, and through its Economic Modernisation Vision, which was launched under Royal patronage, seeks to focus on women’s economic empowerment in the vision’s initiatives.

The minister also highlighted the vision’s contribution to improving the conditions of working women, providing new job opportunities and enhancing the related legislative process.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women’s Affairs (JNCW) Salma Al Nims said that women’s participation in the workforce stands at some 14 per cent, while unemployment among women by the end of 2021 reached 30.7 per cent compared with 21.4 per cent unemployment among men.