Women’s rights activists in Jordan celebrate International Women’s Day

AMMAN — The Kingdom on Thursday celebrates International Women's Day to highlight achievements made, call for further action and boost women's active participation in all fields, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The United Nations titled this year's celebration "Time Is Now: Rural and Urban Activists Transforming Women's Lives" after an unprecedented international movement that called for women's rights, justice, and equality.

On this occasion, President of the Women's Union Amna Zu'bi said that "even though a number of women's rights are still denied, Jordanian women have made great achievements in education, shown effective participation in public work, and held societal and party leadership roles".

For her part, Layla Naffa, director of Projects at Arab Women Organisation of Jordan said that "last year witnessed great progress in granting women their rights after their collective efforts which resulted in the abolishment of Article 308 and the amendment of Article 98 of the Penal Code".

Article 308, abolished in August of 2017, previously allowed perpetrators of rape and sexual assault to avoid legal punishment by marrying their victims, while Article 98, amended in July of 2017, stipulated that the perpetrator of a so-called honour crime could benefit from "mitigating circumstances" if the individual claimed to have been suffering from intense rage during the incident. 

The organisation will launch a campaign on Thursday titled "We are with the Jordanian Mother", which seeks to grant Jordanian women all their rights, especially regarding passing on Jordanian citizenship to their children, Naffa added.

Munir Idaibes, executive director of Sisterhood is Global Institute Jordan (SIGI) highlighted that this occasion is an opportunity to conduct events and activities that call for combating violence against women and granting them all their social and economic rights.