The World Economic Forum's annual Global Gender Gap Index, which measures economic, legal, social and health gender discrepancies, ranked the Kingdom 104 out of 130 nations included in the 2008 report.

In comparison to the region, Jordan made "some of the largest gains across the board", due to what the report cites as improvements in labour force participation, estimated earned income, literacy rates and an increased number of women in Parliament and in ministerial-level positions.

Last year saw advancements in female participation in the Kingdom's political life, including a parliamentary election which saw seven women enter the 110-member Lower House and the first-ever election of a woman MP through direct competition.

On the local level, 240 women won seats in the 2007 municipal elections, including a female mayor who won through direct competition.

Prime Minister Nader Dahabi's current Cabinet includes four female ministers, while seven women were appointed as senators to the Upper House.

Although the Kingdom has shown progress, there is much work to be done in order to reach gender equality, according to Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) secretary general Asma Khader.

"We are doing well in Jordan, but there is plenty of room for improvement, particularly in political participation in Parliament and participation in the labour force," Khader told The Jordan Times yesterday.

According to the JNCW secretary general, further legislation is needed to boost women's political and economic participation, namely raising the quota for women in the Lower House and ensuring maternity leave and nursery services for working mothers.

Noting that many Jordanian women often drop out of the workforce once they become mothers, Khader said the proposed amended social security law and its "maternity leave fund" would give women more economic and political freedom.

"With the responsibilities of raising children, cooking and cleaning, there are very heavy burdens placed on the shoulders of women, and we need to focus on ways to alleviate this. Otherwise it is difficult for women to find free time to work, run for office or even vote," she said.

Among Arab countries, only Tunisia (103) and Kuwait (101) ranked ahead of Jordan, while Yemen (130) continued to be the lowest-ranked nation in the index, listed as the only country to have closed less than 50 per cent of its gender gap.

Saudi Arabia (128), saw a significant drop from last year when it was ranked 124, according to the study, due to the percentage of women legislators, senior officials and managers and a decreased wage equality.

Although the Kingdom's position remained the same as last year's, the 2008 index saw the addition of two countries.

The Gender Gap Index is generated from a scoring system based on a zero-to-one scale (scoring zero in cases of inequality and one in cases of equality), but can be roughly interpreted as the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed.

Jordan closed 62.7 per cent of its gender gap, compared to 62 per cent one year ago, according to the report.

The Kingdom's procedures towards closing the gap between men and women improved in terms of education, ranking 80 on the report's scale.

Regionally, Oceania, North America and European regions head the world by closing 70 per cent of their gender gap, while the Middle East and North Africa continue to be the lowest-ranked region, with the average country closing 58 per cent of its gender gap.

By Taylor Luck

© Jordan Times 2008

 

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