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The material posted here was provided to the Division for the 

Advancement of Women by the Government in response to a note 

verbale. It has being made available in electronic format from

the form received. 

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Subject

Introduction .................................................................................................... 3

I. Bases on Which The National Strategy for Women Was Devised ................. 4

II. Components of The National Strategy for Women ...................................... 5

A. Legislation .................................................................................................. 5

B. Political Activity .......................................................................................... 7

C. Economic Activity ...................................................................................... 8

D. Social Activity ........................................................................................... 10

E. Educational Activity .................................................................................... 12

F. Health Activity ............................................................................................ 14

III. Implementation Mechanism ........................................................................ 15

During the last four decades, Jordan achieved remarkable social and economic progress which was reflected, in a positive way, in the role of women in the society and their effective ability to contribute to this progress.

To translate the government's eagerness to boost women's participation in the various economic, social and political activities into action, a Jordanian national committee for women's affairs was formed in 1992 under the chairmanship of Her Royal Highness Princess Basmah Bint Talal. The committee's membership included representatives from governmental and private entities concerned with women's affairs. Its creation was a new step on the road to advancing women's status, so that they can reach their deserved position in society. The first task carried out by the committee was devising a national strategy for the advancement of Jordanian women as a focal point for all national efforts pertaining to women. This strategy was the result of a series of studies and a number of seminars and meetings in the various regions of the Kingdom, in which a broad cross-section of men and women from different sectors in society participated. The effort culminated in a national conference in June 1993 to adopt a draft national integrated strategy for women characterized by the purity of Islamic and Arab principles, values and examples and their strong humanistic aspects, as well as modern trends, mechanisms and techniques to promote the Jordanian's woman status and support her role in building the society and reinforcing its progress and development.

The strategy embraced the principles of the Jordanian Constitution which calls for equality between men and women before the law, and non-discrimination in the rights and duties of all citizens irrespective of ethnic, language or religious differences, as long as they are exercising their constitutional rights and committing themselves to respect national interests and ethics, so that Jordanian society may reach its goals of unity, progress and a better future.

1. The National Strategy for Women is essentially based on the provisions of the Constitution, the Jordanian National Charter and the principles of the Islamic Law, the values of the Arab Islamic society and human rights.

2. The strategy conforms, in its objective, measures and mechanisms, to the genuine values of the Arab society and its positive aspirations to progress and prosperity.

3. The strategy aims to strengthen the family bond as the basic social unit on which society is built and as the natural environment for raising, educating and building the personality of the individual.

4. The need to deal with women's issues is based on the fact that women represent half of the society and, at the same time, are the educators and partners of the other half in a society where they enjoy equality, but in which they have to strike a balance between rights and responsibilities.

5. The legal, political, social, and economic role and status of women emanate from a development process at the national and local levels, which requires positive efforts for changes that will help make women's role more effective and will advance their status in society, and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them.

6. The national strategy for women is integrated with the national comprehensive development strategy and its social, economic, political and cultural dimensions, and it benefits from the relevant regional and international strategies.

7. Development requires an effective role for women and their full equality in rights and responsibilities, and that the social and economic disparity between the various regions in Jordan be recognized.

8. The quantitative and qualitative development of an efficient and fairly distributed educational process is a key factor to boost women's contribution in the society.

Objectives:

1. Educating the society in general and women in particular about women's legitimate and legal rights and responsibilities, and developing laws which deal with their role in the family and society, which should be fostered in every way.

2. Enacting or amending the laws that help in eliminating all forms of discrimination against women in the various areas, and in boosting their role to build and advance the society.

3. Making efforts to enact the laws that allow women to exercise their political, economic, social and cultural rights as stipulated in Islamic Law, and affirming their constitutional and legal right to be treated equally in education, guidance, training and job opportunities.

Measures:

- Conducting a comprehensive study of the applicable laws and regulations to detect those which need amendment, in order to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, while re-setting priorities and ensuring the participation of public and private sector representatives who support equality between men and women in such studies.

- Amending laws and legislation dealing with women's interests and rights to eliminate all forms of discrimination against them, and boost their role and status in the society. This will encompass the Nationality, Personal Status, Retirement, Social Welfare, Health Insurance, Labor and Trade Unions Laws.

- Changing the Personal Status Law to protect women's interests without prejudice to the irrefutable provisions of Islamic Law, through jurisprudence and reference to legal opinions which conform with the requirements of contemporary life.

- Enacting or amending the applicable laws to conform with international conventions dealing with women's issues and rights and calling for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, without prejudice to the cultural uniqueness of Jordanian society; and urging the authorities to sign and ratify other relevant conventions.

- Increasing the participation of women's groups at both the local and national levels in the studies related to enacting or amending laws.

- Using the media, including publications, seminars and workshops to educate the public in general and women in particular about legitimate issues of interest to women and the measures needed to exercise their rights in the various areas.

- Expanding the facilities and services which provide assistance to women in finding jobs, investing and seeking legal consultation.

Objectives:

1. Developing women's role in the various areas of political activity, and boosting their participation in designing government policies and their share of public leadership positions.

2. Educating the public about the importance of boosting women's participation in politics to strengthen the democratic process and social development.

3. Supporting the Arab woman's struggle to gain her rights, and the Palestinian woman under the Israeli occupation in her struggle for liberation and self-determination.

Measures:

Using the media, seminars, workshops and public forums, institutions and other forms of democratic action to develop the participation of women in the various areas of politics, and educate the public about the important role they play in the democratic process, especially the following functions:

1. Participating at all levels in designing and implementing government policies, and enjoying an equal opportunity to be promoted to leadership positions.

2. Joining various local and municipal organizations, institutions and departments.

3. Exercising political rights and responsibilities and playing an effective role in the democratic process, and encouraging women's candidacy and election to local and legislative councils and bodies.

4. Boosting society's awareness in general and women's in particular about the political, social, economic and cultural rights of women and their role in politics.

5. Educating and persuading women to play an effective role in political parties and trade unions so that they can exercise pressure in the society, and boosting their awareness about human rights issues and fundamental freedoms.

Objectives:

1. Increasing the percentage of women in the labor force, and ensuring non-discrimination against them with regard to employment in the various fields and sectors.

2. Providing the required facilities to encourage women's entering and staying in the labor market, by developing support services.

Measures:

1. Conducting media campaigns to gain more acceptance of women's work, especially in non-traditional sectors, and providing the necessary training.

2. Initiating action by government agencies to develop their procedures and targets in order to boost women's job rehabilitation and training and to promote women to administrative, leadership and political positions.

3. Monitoring the employment procedures of governmental entities to ensure non-discrimination against women and that all employment opportunities are available to them.

4. Educating employers and directors of administrative divisions about the need to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in employment, training and promotion, and encouraging occupational advancement especially in the low and intermediate levels where most women are employed.

5. Monitoring the implementation of laws with regard to equal pay for equal work.

6. Providing consulting services at work for women, and creating organized and legal channels for claiming women's human rights and offering relevant advice.

7. Boosting women's participation at all levels in professional associations and workers trade unions, and encouraging women's seminars and publications.

8. Encouraging women's self-employment and providing facilities to access credit, expanding the available lending opportunities, and taking measures to reduce investment and production risks.

9. Providing supporting services for working women, especially day-care centers and kindergartens, which should be upgraded through better supervision to increase women's interest in entering and staying in the labor market, using the provisions of the labor law to create the appropriate mechanism.

10. Ensuring women's rights in seasonal and part-time jobs and in the informal sector, which provides an opportunity to absorb a large number of poor women, particularly in the cities, and adhering to the appropriate employment conditions provided for in the Labor Law.

11. Developing parallel markets where women can sell their products and through which they can control their revenues.

12. Providing the means to support women in rural areas in farm production and animal husbandry, boosting their participation in satisfying basic family needs, and urging local associations to foster this approach and provide financial, technical and administrative support.

13. Designing special programs to re-train and rehabilitate young women who seek work to satisfy the manpower needs of the various sectors of production.

14. Paying adequate attention to supporting women's role in planning and implementing food security programs, and in defining clear action plans to achieve this goal, within the framework of a national food security policy to boost women's self-reliance in food production.

15. Taking the required measures to ensure occupational health and safety for working women, and providing the necessary work conditions toward this goal.

Objectives:

1. Strengthening women's status and role in the family and in society and developing social concepts to bolster women's role in social development.

2. Supporting special women's groups such as those who are the sole family income-provider and the elderly, and providing care for disabled women.

Measures:

1. Paying due attention to issues pertaining to the upbringing of women and providing care in all stages of their lives as children, teenagers, young women and mothers.

2. Highlighting the comprehensive traditional and non-traditional development role of women in society, and guiding school education and the media to support this role.

3. Educating women about the nature of their social rights and responsibilities, fostering sound social concepts and information and controlling negative social practices.

4. Educating women about the issues and problems of the environment, energy, and efficient water usage, with emphasis on the role of women in protecting the environment and making proper use of energy and water resources.

5. Educating girls at school and via the public media about reproductive issues and their proper practice, and encouraging families to pursue a proper spacing between births and to seek breast feeding.

6. Studying the social and health problems associated with women's old age, in order to design remedial policies and programs.

7. Paying attention to families in which women are heads of households, studying their problems in order to define the policies and programs to remedy them, taking steps to provide families with adequate social support to enable them to achieve and maintain economic independence, and removing all obstacles that prevent this group of women from having access to credit and resources, so that the ultimate goal of improving their social and economic status can be accomplished.

8. Making objective efforts to educate the public about the forms of violence to which women are exposed at home or in society, such as terrorism, battering, and psychological injury, and providing the required legal action and specialized consulting and supporting services such as shelters and protection as the case may be.

9. Providing services for disabled women and offering social and vocational rehabilitation and training to facilitate their participation in their regular daily activities and integration within the society.

10. Providing poor women with services to improve their own and their family's social, health and educational conditions.

Objectives:

1. Developing and improving the quality of educational services in the various regions and population concentration centers.

2. Supporting the role of the educational system in fostering the positive image of women and their status in the family and society and their contribution to social development.

Measures:

1. Making efforts to present a balanced picture about the family in general and women and girls in particular in school curricula and textbooks, by showing a picture of a productive working woman who effectively participates in the various developmental activities at home and in society, in addition to her role as a mother and housewife.

2. Expanding educational and vocational training services for women, especially in such fields of their work as farming, industry, and the service sector.

3. Developing educational and vocational guidance services at educational and media institutions to encourage girls to choose the academic and professional careers suited to their capabilities and the labor market needs.

4. Expanding vocational education services and facilities as a component of the former general education offered to both sexes, to encompass vocational skills, information and trends in the various industrial, agricultural and services sectors.

5. Controlling the school drop-out phenomenon among girls, especially in the formal education stage in the regions and population centers in general and the rural areas and inner cities in particular.

6. Supporting the campaign conducted by the Ministry of Education to reduce the illiteracy rate among the age groups above 15 in the year 2000 from 17% to 8% in general, and from 24% to 10% among females in particular.

7. Placing more focus on health, family, population and environmental education in school curricula and textbooks, to relate them better to the various human needs.

8. Encouraging women's enrollment in graduate studies offered by universities, to enable them to play a role in scientific research, join college teaching staffs and reach leadership positions.

Objective:

1. Developing and improving the quality of health services offered to women in the various regions and population centers.

2. Educating the public and women about health issues to improve public and family health.

Measures:

1. Providing health services for women in all stages of their lives as children, teenagers and mothers, which will not only reflect positively on their health but also on the health of the family as a whole.

2. Expanding maternity and child service centers to cover all urban and rural areas, and improving the quality of their services.

3. Providing the health services needed to prolong the spacing between births at health service facilities in both public and private sectors.

4. Paying due attention to educating women about health issues, developing health education programs and encouraging the media to play a role in this area.

5. Advancing education in the various medical fields in universities, community colleges and vocational secondary schools, and encouraging girls to join such education.

6. Boosting the role of women in health care as a provider and beneficiary, and securing the educational and training resources needed by women to reach leadership positions in the health field.

Official and private entities concerned with women's affairs and issues will assume, according to their specialization, the responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating the various components of the national strategy for women, by designing plans, taking measures, performing activities, and executing programs and projects. Meanwhile, the Jordanian National Committee for Women's Affairs will undertake the task of following up the execution and evaluation of the strategy through the following approaches:

1. The National Committee for Women's Affairs will develop its role to act as an effective force in Jordanian society, and will make efforts to gain the support of the various groups and entities to exercise their pressure in defending women's issues by throwing light thereon, correcting the negative and developing positive practices and concepts.

2. The National Committee will seek to incorporate women's issues and the measures to deal with them in economic and social development plans, through the necessary channels, as well as ensuring women's effective participation in designing these plans.

3. The National Committee will design an annual execution plan including the measures, activities and projects it will carry out during the year, in light of defined priorities and favorable conditions.

4. The National Committee, under its mandate, will ask government and private entities to provide regular annual data on their accomplishments and activities to achieve the strategy goals, so that the committee will have a tool to followup, evaluate, report, and conduct studies. These data will cover various activities pertaining to education, training, labor, health, social and political development, information, legislation and the like.

5. The National Committee will conduct a regular evaluation every two or three years of the plan to assess the accomplishments made to achieve the strategic goals and the obstacles faced in implementation, through discussions in seminars or workshops in which the government and private entities concerned will participate.

6. The National Committee will support and encourage conferences, seminars and workshops, studies, data collection and documentation pertaining to women's affairs.

7. The National Committee will form committees and task forces in the various regions to follow up the measures, activities and projects it adopts to achieve the strategic goals.

8. The National Committee will take steps to open channels for dialogue and communications with the entities concerned with women's affairs and issues in the public and private sectors, to increase job and training opportunities and improve work conditions for women.

9. The National Committee will make efforts to communicate and open channels with regional and international organizations, especially the Arab and Islamic organizations which adopt women's issues and seek to advance women's status and role in the society, so as to exchange information and expertise and conduct joint activities.

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