Topic: 2024-Gender Equality in Rural Areas
Country: Jordan
Delegate Name: Elizabeth Torres-Salas
Throughout the past decades, Jordan has seen an increase in urban areas, leading to a change in the country’s population distribution dynamic. For the majority of the 20th century, people have been consistently moving to urban areas, which has further increased the role of gender equality in rural environments. Despite this, there have been some changes in recent years that have helped show an overall increase in gender equality gaps in rural areas. Yet, much improvement can be made throughout the country.
One of the main challenges that is thought of when thinking about gender equality in rural areas is the treatment of women compared to men and the expectations that they are faced with. In recent years, Jordan has had lower equity rates than other countries in the region, showing how they are more likely to change. There are still some fundamental problems that Jordan plans to change regarding gender inequality, such as access to education, job opportunities, employment rates, and caretaking. Jordan has started implementing laws, especially those regarding care, that plan to help with gender inequality. They are implementing the labor laws 2019 to help create a paid labor environment for women, which was very limited. One major part of this law is to make paid maternity leave mandatory for all workplaces, which will help create a more even field for women. In recent years, the Ministry of Education had also made school a requirement for children ages 5-6 and stated that it would increase the number of school built, this aids in limiting the education gap that females in rural areas are prone to face. Jordan values this issue and aims to limit it.
The issues regarding gender equality and rural environments are far from being accomplished. Jordan plans to use its resources and advances to help better the gender inequality gap that the country still faces. The implementation of different laws and policy plans will help with this subject. Jordan plans to limit the gender inequality faced in rural areas.
Sources: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2024-04/Spotlight%20Jordan%20-Views%20on%20Gender%20Equality.pdf
https://data.unwomen.org/country/jordan
