Jordanian Organizations Celebrating the International Women's Day
ActionAid Denmark participated in a celebration of the International Women’s Day on the 8th of March in Amman. At the one day gender conference they presented the idea of training gender ambassadors in civil society organizations in Jordan.
Heidi Jespersen, Programme assistant, Jordan03. April 2012
Part of the meeting was to discuss a report submitted by the ‘Arab Women’s Organization’ to the CEDAW committee (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women). The report discusses the progresses and challenges in Jordan related to women’s rights and provides suggestions on how to promote positive change for women.
Jordan has signed the CEDAW in 1980 with reservations, and still fails to implement several articles in the bill of women’s rights. According to the report, one of the main challenges in Jordan are the reservations to especially article 9, which addresses the right of Jordanian women to pass their nationality on to their children. Other challenges, mentioned in the report, are women’s weak representative in the political sphere and the fact that perpetrators serve light punishment for violence against women.
The celebration gathered the ‘Arab Women’s Organization’, representatives from the Swedish ‘Kvinna Till Kvinna’ and the ‘Mosawa Network’ – a grass-root network of 86 women’s organizations in Jordan. Several of the organizations already work to change the laws discriminating women. But, the work with women’s rights is difficult due to traditional gender roles and political resistance to create real change.
ActionAid Denmark (AADK) has developed a specific gender strategy for their work with youth in the Middle East and North Africa and wishes to broaden the focus on women in their programme. The aim is to make an impact with the latest initiative, the so-called gender ambassadors. The idea is to promote a gender sensitive focus in the work of organizations, advocate on gender issues and establish gender related activities.
Two representatives from AADK presented the idea of gender ambassadors at the meeting with a very positive response. AADK appreciates the interest and the many contacts received through the gathering.