Earlier this month, a coalition of organizations began a gender equality campaign (including workplace equality) in Jordan. According to an article in the Jordan Times,
Sponsored by several organisations including the King HusseinFoundation, the Women’s Studies Centre at the University of Jordan andthe Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development, GEC aims to changeattitudes towards both men and women.
“We want to reach a point where a girl can walk down the streetwithout anyone bothering her, and where a guy is able to enter a mallwithout having to accompany a girl,” Kilani told The Jordan Times onSaturday.
Symbolising this goal, the GEC logo consists of a pink strip,representing women, beside a blue strip for men, both the same length.
According to the press release, via Tololy’s Box:
Gender Equality Campaign
This campaign was created as part of an initiative by a group ofyoung Jordanians who are committed to the idea of justice and equalityfor the women and men of Jordan. The main purpose of the GenderEquality Campaign is to educate the public in Jordan about Women’sRights and to mobilize the community to take action to address thishuman rights issue in Jordan.
The vision for the campaign is to increase the level of awarenessand commitment to women’s rights in Jordanian society. Furthermore, themission is to create a channel for a broad based dialogue about therights and roles of women in Jordan.
Contact Details:
Lulwa Al-Kilani Dina Liddawi
Gender Equality Campaigner Gender Equality Campaigner
Email: genderequalityc@gmail.com
Telephone: +962 77 90 6 90 40 Telephone: +962 77 9999 187
As part of that campaign, volunteers took the conversation to the streets, literally, speaking with people about gender and equality. And yesterday, HRH Princess Basma spoke at a ceremony launching a
a joint Jordanian-Danish project on “engendering the public sphere”,Princess Basma expressed hope that the initiative will pave the way toimprove the conditions of working women.
In her address, Princess Basma highlighted discrimination against women in the workplace.
She said previous experience by the Jordanian National Commissionfor Women (JNCW) in gender mainstreaming revealed that organisationalcultures are often discriminatory and hinder gender equality withininstitutions and businesses.
Voicing optimism that the initiative will work to change thisculture, the Princess said the project will address such imbalances andstrengthen mechanisms within management structures in both the privateand public sectors to address gender issues at policy-making andadministrative levels.
Overcoming challenges that face women in the public sphere is of critical importance for the country to move forward, she noted.
Exciting developments.
MM