UN Women and ILO hosted the closing event "Showcasing Results and Promising Practices" to mark the final year of the Joint Programme "Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women"

[Press release]

Amman, Jordan — UN Women (UNW) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) hosted the closing event of the Joint Programme "Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women in Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine" (JP Work4Women) on Thursday, 29 August 2024, in Amman. The event was held under the patronage of Her Excellency Maha Ali, Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW).

The JP Work4Women initiative was a five-year program (2019-2023) aimed at tackling the structural barriers that women face in accessing decent work in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine and was generously supported of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

This event was an opportunity to present key achievements of the project and to highlight promising practices and lessons learned from the initiative. Attendees included representatives from government bodies, NGOs, community-based organizations, the private sector, employers' and workers' organizations, donors, UN agencies, media, and the general public.

Across the three countries and through the project, close to 2.4 million beneficiaries and partners were engaged in capacity building opportunities, accessed technical assistance to develop gender sensitive policies and laws and to create a more gender-sensitive private sector, and/or participated in advocacy and awareness campaigns.

23 law and regulations were adopted or revised to facilitate women’s economic empowerment and over 250 private sector companies were supported to join the Women’s Economic Empowerment Principles (WEPs).

In Jordan, UN Women and ILO supported to the introduction of 13 reforms to the regulatory/legal frameworks that promote gender equality in the labour market and built the capacity of more than 75 employees of the Ministry of Labour and the Social Security Corporation in gender responsive financial and technical planning. Moreover, the Ministry of Labor was supported to develop a Gender Mainstreaming Policy, accompanied by an executive plan and a monitoring and evaluation framework which will be applied over the coming 5 years. These institutional capacity development efforts were directly aligned with the National Gender Mainstreaming Policy, the National strategy for Women, and the Women's Empowerment Strategy under the Economic Modernization Vision. Through the project, the number of private sector companies engaged in the WEPs reached 174, representing together over 61,000 employees. A survey completed in 2023 with 47 of those companies revealed the following outcomes:

• 60% reported having taken measures to improve work life balance for male and female employees, to ensure higher representation of women in managerial positions, and to ensure greater access to benefits and equal pay for women;
• 67% reporting having increased their number of female employees in the past 12 months;
• And 78% reporting that such progress was linked to their participation in the WEPs under the Joint Progamme.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Nicolas Burniat, UN Women Country Representative, stressed: “one of the aspects of the program which we are probably the proudest about, is to have contributed to the creation of a political climate in which the economic empowerment of women has become a national priority for the government of Jordan. The end of this Joint Project is but the beginning of the next phase of our work and we are committed to continue working with all our partners to support the implementation of the Engendered Strategy under the Economic Modernization Vision and the National Strategy for Women”.

Dr. Amal Muwafy, ILO Jordan Country Coordinator & Senior Regional Employment Policy Specialist, stated: "The achievements we celebrate today are the result of joint efforts and strong partnerships with national and international partners. This collaboration has not only aligned Jordanian national legislation with international standards, but also contributed significantly to progress in critical areas, such as preventing violence and harassment in the world of work, achieving gender pay equity, and empowering women in leadership positions."

H.E. Khaled Alfanatsah, from General Federation of Trade Unions said: “Trade Unions play a vital role in protecting rights of workers, including women. They work to improve working conditions, negotiate on wages, and provide a safe working environment. Unions also helps empower women by increasing their economic participation and reducing unemployment among them.”

H.E. Maha Ali, JNCW Secretary General highlighted that the commission's work on the economic empowerment pillar and its initiatives in the Executive Plan of the Women's Strategy (2023–2025) intersects with some activities that emerged from the Decent Work for Women Project. These include labour market regulations, the review of entrepreneurship-related legislation, the enhancement of policies aimed at addressing the gender pay gap, and the development of legislative demands for amendments to the Labor Law to ensure justice and equal opportunities.

Al-Ali then presented some of the most notable amendments to the Jordanian Labor Law in recent years, such as the introduction of flexible work arrangements, paternity leave, the issuance of the Agriculture Regulation in 2021, the adoption of a unified contract in the private sector in 2023 and efforts to automate it, amendments to the Social Security Law, and the unification of maternity leave with the private sector, among others. She emphasized the necessity of enforcing these legislations and translating legal texts into reality to ensure women's economic empowerment and increase their economic participation.

The event featured moderated panel discussions where stakeholders from government and the private sector shared their experiences and insights into advancing women’s economic participation.

Throughout the day, the event also hosted an exhibition, opened to the public, to showcase the different interventions and initiatives implemented under the programme. In doing so, the exhibition shed light on women's empowerment practices across various fields, including business, leadership, sports, and non-traditional sectors. Attendees explored dynamic exhibits showcasing the Joint Programme’s journey and engaged with interactive learning stalls that fostered knowledge exchange between participants and Joint Programme beneficiaries. A dedicated section also spotlighted the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), further emphasizing the event's commitment to promoting gender equality in all sectors.

The JP closing event marked a significant milestone in UN Women ongoing efforts to promote gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in Jordan and the broader MENA region.

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