AMMAN - Jordan will today mark International Women's Day by highlighting women's role in the judiciary and launching activities to combat violence against women.
One of today's events marking the occasion will take place at the Palace of Justice under the title: "Women in the Judiciary Branch and the Legal Professions".
"We want to celebrate women's accomplishments in the judiciary branch because their presence ensures further legal protection for women and ensures equal opportunities for all," said Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) Secretary General Asma Khader.
Many existing laws, including some that were passed recently, ensure equality for women, but problems sometimes arise in the application of these laws, she said.
For this reason, this year's activities focus on acknowledging the presence of women in the judiciary and legislative bodies, Khader told The Jordan Times.
"We have female legislators who take part in drafting laws and female judges who help in applying the law equally and this is an important achievement for Jordanian women," she said.
In her capacity as JNCW president and UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador, HRH Princess Basma will act as patron at the event, held by the JNCW in cooperation with UNIFEM, the Judicial Council, the Justice Ministry and the Arab Women's Legal Network.
Khader said 48 women judges currently serve in the judicial branch out of a total of 700 judges, while 17 per cent of the Kingdom's lawyers are female.
The next step, she noted, is to start pushing for the appointment of women as prosecutors and judges in the Sharia, Cassation and Supreme Courts.
On Tuesday, the International Women's Forum will mark the day by holding a graduation ceremony for female justices who enrolled in a programme on strengthening women's leadership skills.
Achievements and obstacles
Women activists said several important achievements have been made to improve women's rights in the Kingdom, but more needs to be done on the legislative level.
Such achievements including publishing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in the Official Gazette, and lifting the government's reservations on Article 15 (4) of the convention on the freedom of mobility and residency rights for women.
Eva Abu Halaweh, director of the Law Group for Human Rights (MIZAN), pointed out that her organisation is currently filing 16 lawsuits at civil courts in cases related to discrimination against women as stipulated in the CEDAW.
She said MIZAN will hold a workshop to train lawyers on the human trafficking and family protection laws on March 27 to mark International Women's Day.
Another achievement was the establishment of a special tribunal to hear cases related to so-called honour killings, which has begun handling cases of women killed in such crimes as regular murders.
Other accomplishments include passing the family protection and human trafficking laws and establishing the Family Reconciliation House to help abused women.
Jordanian Women's Union Vice President Nadia Shamroukh praised these recent accomplishments, pledging to continue the fight to end violence against women.
But she told The Jordan Times that there is also a need to focus on poverty and unemployment, which affect women most severely.
Shamroukh stressed that the women's movement in Jordan will continue to call on the government to increase women's presence in the Lower House.
"We hope the government will increase the women's quota to reach 20 per cent of the total number of deputies instead of the current six seats," she said.
Nuha Maaytah, president of the General Federation of Jordanian Women, noted that although said women have made visible contributions to the Kingdom's development, there should be more focus on education, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Meanwhile, National Council for Family Affairs Secretary General Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said the council will launch a campaign to announce its continuous development of family guidance services provided to victims of domestic violence under a national strategy to address this issue and ensure the safety and productivity of Jordanian families.
DoS statistics
To mark the occasion, the Department of Statistics (DoS) issued figures indicating that the number of women owning property increased three fold between 2007 and 2008, rising to 15.1 per cent.
Women's participation in the labour market also increased, with the percentage of women in the workforce reaching 15 per cent in 2009, up from 12.3 per cent in 1995, the department said.
Out of the latest population count of 5.98 million, 2.9 million are women, according to DoS figures, which also showed that women who never married stood at 35.7 per cent, while the percentage of men in the same category was 45.8.
Women to head media outlets
Also to mark the occasion, the Jordan Press Association (JPA) appointed Rana Qasas, the head of its English department, as the syndicate's president for the day on Monday, while The Jordan Times named Ica Wahbeh as its editor-in-chief.
Among the Arabic dailies, Al Rai Newspaper appointed Hala Udwan as editor-in-chief for today, Al Ghad named Muna Shukri and Ad Dustour will be run by Aman Sa'eh.
By Rana Husseini
© Jordan Times 2010
