Gov’t wants to listen to women’s movement, make changes within available resources — deputy PM

DEAD SEA — Women groups and government officials on Thursday discussed a list of priorities and demands by rights activists and civil society movements.

Ministers and government officials pledged to take the women movement’s demands into considerations and to make the necessary amendments that would safeguard the well-being of women in Jordan.

Over the past two days, civil society representatives and women’s rights activists met to discuss several issues related to women such as education, as well as political and economic empowerment.

Titled “Support to Civil Society, Dialogue and Participation in Jordan”, the meeting was supported by the EU and held in cooperation with the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, and the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW).

Speaking to attendees of the Dead Sea meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat said there should be an effective, united women’s movement “to be able to provide constructive demands”.

The minister stressed that “certain individuals” use traditional Jordanian culture as a means to stand against women’s advancement and categorise some professions to be solely for men.

Thneibat acknowledged that there are many cultural practices that are harmful to women and “we should fight them because they are not part of our true culture that respects and empowers women”.

Responding to several questions and comments by the participants, the minister said changing social behaviours is a “long process”.

“There will always be people for or against change… we have to admit that the needed change in the education sector requires a public awareness campaign to [succeed]...,” he added.

Thneibat urged the women’s movement to hold regular meetings with government agencies to convey demands.

“We are ready to hear all your demands and make the necessary amendments in accordance with the available resources,” he said. 

The minister stressed that the ministry is constantly reviewing school textbooks to address the concerns that were raised by the participants.

“We are upgrading the school curricula, and in 2016-2017 we will see major changes on all levels in our books,” the education minister stressed.

Political and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Yousef Shawarbeh also spoke at the meeting, saying that the government believes in the role of Jordanian women and empowering them in all sectors.

“We have worked on empowering women in political parties by holding several meetings to train them on the importance of political work,” Shawarbeh said.

He added that the government works to encourage women to run for elections or to be part of the election process “and to choose the right representative — be it a man or a woman — who can support their demands”. 

 The activists discussed several recommendations with government officials that they agreed on a day earlier.

The recommendations focused on amending school textbooks, which the activists say, have a male-oriented tone, and called for training and rehabilitating teachers.

Moreover, the recommendations suggest separating religion from politics and reviewing all economy-related laws to encourage the private sector to become “a more friendly environment for women”.

The activists said the government should provide better services and guidance to abused women and children, and introduce clearer laws “that would protect sexual harassment victims”.

They stressed the need to add the word gender to Article 6 of the Constitution to ban any discrimination on that basis. In its current form, the provision bans discrimination on the basis of language, religion and race.

The Dead Sea meeting is within a project to empower civil society and the women’s movement in Jordan to be part of the decision-making process.

Lazhar Aloui, of the EU’s Support to Parliament and Civil Society Organisations project in Jordan, told the gathering in the morning session that the project aims to support several initiatives in Jordan in areas of human rights, women empowerment, economic empowerment and environment protection.

“We strive to encourage dialogue within the Jordanian society to make the necessary change,” Aloui said.

JNCW Secretary General Salma Nims stressed the need to have strong cooperation among NGOs and “these organisations will have a unified goal to be able to garner the needed support and acceptance of our demands by the government”.

Also speaking during the morning session, activist and former minister Asma Khader suggested forming a committee to work within the Ministry of Education to work on school textbooks, which she said are filled with stereotypical images of women.

Khader also stressed the need to work on amending laws that discriminate against women and “we should do it quickly because there are thousands of individuals and families that are affected”.

Suheir Azzouni, one of several gender experts who organised the event, said, “she was hopeful that the women’s movement will have an ongoing dialogue with the government to... achieve the needed changes to guarantee better women’s rights and freedoms in Jordan”.

“We are ambitious that we will make changes in the future, be they large or small, at least we will make some sort of change. That is what we aspire for,” Azzouni said in conclusion.