AMMAN -- Family pressures and a prevailing culture of shame continue to hinder the professional development of women in Jordan, according to participants at a conference here yesterday.
The one-day Free to Work consortium, organised by Tatawar, a nongovernmental organisation focused on promoting the social development of women in Jordan and Gaza, brought together various representative interested in female employment, training and equality in the Kingdom's professional sphere.
"Our main target is to enhance the economic development of women to ensure there are no obstacles for them in the future," said Heba Abu Sameed of the Arab Women Organisation of Jordan (AWO), who chaired a discussion group entitled, "Public policies, labour law and equal chances."
"We want to give women in all sectors of society the tools to reach what they hope for in their professional lives," she added.
Free to Work is a 24- month project funded by the European Union in co-operation with the Jordan Chamber of Industry, the Jordan Human Resources Management Association and the AWO.
The project's first consortium, held last July, brought together professionals from the private and public sectors to discuss ways to enhance employment opportunities for women.
During yesterday's conference, entitled: "Enhancing Opportunities for Women in Economic Life," Mais Hiyari of Jordan's Human Resources Management Association said women in Jordan continue to face many obstacles.
"Early marriage, family pressures, lack of child care facilities and a shame culture that sees women's professional life as limited to teaching and nursing" impede women from accessing potential opportunities in the market place, Hiyari said.
Acknowledging the various channels available to job seekers -- the Internet, newspapers and the Ministry of Labour's national employment offices -- Hiyari also said that many female job seekers lack the necessary skills and training.
According to the World Bank, only 32 per cent of women in the Middle East and North Africa are active participants in their country's labour force, the lowest in the world.
"We need to help women define the strengths and weaknesses of the job market," said Tatawar's President, Elena Abu Adas, "...This involves job training, education and personal skills to provide opportunities to help them secure work... they need to know how to develop skills needed to enter the job market."
Rawdah Abu Taha of the Jordan Forum for Business and Professional Women (JFBPW), which has operated since 1978 as a resource centre for the country's professional women, told The Jordan Times that the private sector has a key role to play in promoting equal rights.
"We encourage the private sector to be fair to women in providing equal pay and putting women in decision-maker roles," she said.
"We're focused on awareness and training... working women don't always know their rights in the workplace," Abu Taha noted, adding that JFBPW was instrumental in lobbying for the rights of working mothers, which was incorporated into the Kingdom's revised Labour Law of 1996. The new law also saw maternity leave extended to 10 weeks from the previous eight-week allowance.
Laila Abu Huda, a volunteer for the Jordan Red Crescent, who has helped female graduates secure opportunities in the private sector, as well as working with under-privileged rural women to help them develop skills to open small businesses, said women need to be flexible in the current labour market.
"Education and training is for a lifetime," she said, "but, women need to be flexible with social and political change and the current job market situation... there is not always a balance between what people study in university and market needs."
By Cheryl Haines
© Jordan Times 2007
