Like
other Arab countries, Jordan is experiencing rapid population
growth and urbanization, with the accompanying strain on social
and economic structures.� Official estimates indicate that
the population has doubled in less than 20 years, rising from
2.2 million in 1980 to 4.1 million in 1994.�� Forty-eight
percent of the population is women.� Approximately 80 percent
of the population lives in urban areas. [1] ��
Following
the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel, 250,000 refugees entered
the country, and more recently, the Gulf War of 1990-1991
resulted in a new wave of refugees.� About 1.5 million Palestinian
Arabs, including more than 950,000 registered refugees and
displaced persons from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, reside
in Jordan, many as citizens.
Recent Political
History
Jordan
obtained independence from British administration on 25 May
1946. The government is a constitutional monarchy that was
ruled by King Hussein from 1952-February 1999.� Following
his death, his eldest son, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Hussein
assumed the throne. Jordan has a prime minister and a legislature
consisting of an appointed upper house and an elected lower
house.� Executive authority is vested in the king and his
council of ministers.� The king signs and executes all laws.�
He appoints and may dismiss all judges, approves amendments
to the constitution, declares war, and commands the armed
forces.
The
political and economic systems of Jordan have been heavily
influenced by regional conflicts and crises.�� On 5 June 1967,
Jordan entered the Six-Day War against Israel. Two days later,
with Jordan�s air force destroyed and the West Bank occupied
by Israeli forces, a cease-fire was signed.� In 1970, internal
fighting erupted between Jordanian troops and Syrian-backed
Palestinian guerrillas, many of whom had fled to Jordan as
refugees following the Six-Day War.� The late King Hussein
expelled the guerrillas the next year. After the indecisive
1973 Yom Kippur War against Israel, Jordan recognized the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole representative
of the Palestinian people.� In 1988, the country ceded all
claims to the West Bank to the PLO. A peace agreement with
Israel was signed in 1994, ending 46 years of strained relations.�
King Hussein went further in embracing full peace with Israel
than any other Arab leader ever had.
Media
In
1998, King Hussein introduced a repressive press law that
authorizes censorship and provides mechanisms to sanction
independent or critical journalism.� Article 37 bans coverage
on news or information that defames the heads of Arab, Islamic
or friendly states, or harms national unity.� Article 39 grants
power to the judiciary to censor news coverage on criminal
investigations or trials.� Article 50 allows the judiciary
to indefinitely shut down publications that are the subject
of litigation for matters of public interest or national security. [2]
Jordanian
reporters have been repeatedly subjected to harassment and
abuse.� On 23 August 1999, Jordanian authorities arrested
and jailed Abdel Karim Barghouti, editor in chief of the weekly
newspaper, Al-Bilad.� According to media reports, Barghouti
was arrested for publishing an article covering allegations
that the Prime Minister�s son had sexually harassed a group
of female nurses aboard a bus. [3]
Human
Rights
Refugee
Women
Jordan
hosts one of the largest communities of Palestinian refugees
(1.5 million), whose legal status reflects the ambiguities
of Middle Eastern politics.� While refugees from the Partition
era (1948) were granted citizenship, they are not full citizens
as they cannot hold office.� At the same time, they are not
covered by the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees,
or the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons, as these conventions do not apply to any person considered
by the competent authorities in the country of residence to
have certain rights and obligations linked to the nationality
of that country.� The 1951 Convention, which establishes international
economic and social standards for the treatment of refugees
as citizens of the host, also does not apply to Palestinians
who sought refugee in 1967 because they are under the protection
of the United Nations Relief Work Agency (UNRWA). This Convention
stipulates that it does not apply to those persons enjoying
protection or assistance from commissions or agencies of the
United Nations, except those of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), until that protection or assistance ends.
Regulation
of the affairs of Palestinian refugees, and among them large
numbers of Palestinian refugee women, is not governed by binding
international laws or conventions but by political and regulatory
decisions issued by the Jordanian Executive Authority.� These
decisions are not binding.� They change with political conditions,
and with the responses of the Jordanian government to resolutions
and policies related to the follow-up of UNRWA work in Jordan.�
UNRWA itself is threatened by the cut-down of its services
and reduction of salaries of its employees. This form of discrimination
is condoned by government agencies and courts in official
transactions, when they investigate the origins and descent
of the person concerned in order to find out whether his or
her roots are Jordanian or Palestinian. [4]
This
situation has serious implications for other human rights,
in particular the protection of social and economic rights
to housing.� UNRWA had rented land to settle the refugees,
and in recent years,� the landowners have initiated lawsuits
to evict them.� Illiteracy and poverty rates among refugees
are double those in other sectors of the society, as UNRWA
schools are unable to absorb all of the refugee students,
and public schools do not accept refugee children. [5] �
Refugees are barred from taking government jobs, and their
work is limited to simple development programs offered by
UNRWA. [6]
Women�s
Movement
Women
have a long history of organizing for change in Jordan, dating
back to the 1940s, with the establishment of women�s solidarity
societies. [7] According to one Jordanian activist,
the democratization process and the 1995 Beijing women�s conference
�have helped stimulate the creation of an environment where
the sensitive issues of women�s legal status and equality
before the law can be discussed, and where women�s rights
groups can begin to actively advocate for amending legislation
of concern to them.� [8] � On the other hand, women�s human rights
activists have complained that the government tends to see
their work as a kind of political opposition.� In the past,
government officials have attempted to undermine their work
by stating that it is �not related to the reality of the people,
[it is] spreading Western ideas that contradict the original
ideas of the people and their inherited culture.�� Some human
rights experts report harassment, including house raids, searches
and arrest. [9]
Economy
Although
the population is educated, the economy cannot generate enough
jobs and support adequate living standards because of the
high population growth and relative youth of the population
(more than 50 percent of Jordanians are under 16).� According
to 1996 data, 22 percent of the population is active in the
labor force, and the dependency ratio has reached nearly 1:5
in Jordan, compared to averages of 1:2 in industrialized countries
and 1:3 in developing countries. [10] Jordan�s
political disputes with and among its traditional trading
partners (Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states) frequently
restrict regional trade and development.
The following report is based on basic information resources,
on a 1996 UNDP/UNICEF report entitled �Affirmative Policy
Measures and Initiatives to Promote the Implementation of
CEDAW Convention in Jordan,� and a report on the status of
women, presented by Ghussoun Rahhal at the conference, 'The
Exclusion of Women in the Arab World from the Effective Protection
and Benefit of International Human Rights Law" (26-28
November 1999, Beirut, Lebanon).
STATUS
OF WOMEN IN JORDAN UNDER SPECIFIC CEDAW ARTICLES:
CONVENTION
ARTICLES� 1 AND 2: DEFINITION OF DISCRIMINATION AND OBLIGATIONS
TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION
According
to the 1952 Constitution, Jordanians are equal before the
law, irrespective of �race, language or religion,� [11] � but
sex-based discrimination is not specifically mentioned.
The
Court of Cassation affirmed in a 1982 decision that� �International
conventions supersede local laws and have priority in implementation
in the event they conflict with each other.�� This was endorsed
in Resolution 32/83 issued on 6/2/1982 by the Jordanian Court
of Cassation.� But the Constitution lacks clear provisions
on the relationship between international conventions and
national legislation. [12]
The
Jordanian Penal Code does not contain provisions protecting
women from discrimination and violence.� No punitive measures
are imposed on those who discriminate against women. [13]
CONVENTION
ARTICLE 5: SEX ROLES AND STEREOTYPING
Gender
Stereotyping in School Curricula
A
1995 Ministry of Education study of textual reference to women
in basic-level school curricula found that women were portrayed
almost exclusively within the context of their traditional
roles as mothers and homemakers.� In response to these findings,
the Department of Curriculum amended discriminatory references
to women and changed the portrayal of women to reflect a wider
range of roles and to emphasize women as playing active roles
in the electorate and as decision-makers. [14]
CONVENTION
ARTICLE 7: POLITICAL AND PUBLIC LIFE
The
monarchy is by law patriarchal. According to Article 28 of
the Constitution, �The Throne of the Hashemite Kingdom of
Jordan is hereditary to the dynasty of King Abdullah Ibn Al-Hussein
in a direct line through his male heirs. . . � [15]
Women
have been largely unsuccessful in penetrating the electoral
process.� On the national level, women continue to be severely
underrepresented in elected office.� In 1989, none of the
12 women who ran for the lower house of parliament were elected.�
In 1993, only three women ran for office, and one was elected. [16]
� In 1997, none of the country�s 17 female candidates
for parliament were elected.�� Women�s organizations have
requested quotas to increase the number of women in politics,
but the government rejected such a consideration because it
claims that� it would deny �equal opportunities without discrimination.� [17]
At
the local level, however, women have achieved some modest
electoral successes.� In 1995, a record ten women were elected
to municipal council seats, including the first woman mayor.�
In the 1999 municipal elections, however, women fared far
worse.� No bloc allowed women to join.� Three out of 44 female
candidates were elected for the 2,530 mayoral and council
seats.� The only female mayor, Iman Futaymat, lost to another
candidate.� Supporters of Futaymat maintained that her rival�s
supporters �played a campaign trick in her defeat by blocking
her voters from casting their ballots.�� Her opponent denied
the allegations. [18] �
In
an apparent attempt to compensate for the low numbers of women
elected to municipal seats, the government increased the number
of appointed women members of the city council from one to
three (out of 40). [19] �
CONVENTION
ARTICLE 9: NATIONALITY
Jordan
has entered a reservation to Article 9.2 of the Convention.�
According to Jordanian Nationality Law No. 6 of 1986, �Jordanian
women married to non-Jordanians have the right to keep their
Jordanian nationality.� [20] � However,
the child of a Jordanian woman married to a non-Jordanian
is not automatically considered a citizen of Jordan.� A Jordanian
mother cannot transfer her nationality to her child unless
he or she is born in Jordan to a mother with Jordanian citizenship
and a father of unknown or foreign nationality or whose paternity
has not been legally established. [21] �
A
Jordanian woman cannot obtain a separate passport without
her husband�s written permission.� However, Jordanian legislation
authorizes the Director of the Passport Department to issue
a passport for special cases, for a period not exceeding one
year. [22]
CONVENTION
ARTICLE 10: EDUCATION
According
to the Education Act No. 27 of 1988, education is free and
compulsory from ages 6-16 for both sexes. [23] � However,
many parents are not held accountable when their children
fail to attend school for economic reasons, as the costs associated
with education are high despite free tuition. In cases when
parents are unable to afford to send all their children to
school, the schooling of girls is sacrificed to school the
boys. Conventional social concepts hold that the male will
support the family, whereas the destiny of a girl is marriage. [24] � Particularly in rural
areas,� school-aged girls are kept home by their families:
In practice there is no real enforcement
regarding attendance, so the decision about a child�s education
is left to the family, usually the father, who may not value
education for a girl, particularly if she may play another,
economic role at home.� Moreover, some villages do not have
a school, and families are unwilling (or unable to afford)
to send a female child to a nearby village each day for classes. [25]
�
The
system provides for coeducation in primary school (up to age
12) and at the university level, with single-sex education
during the interim. [26]
The
general level of women�s education has been rising over the
past 20 years.� But even though women�s illiteracy rate was
reduced from 49.5 percent in 1979 to 22 percent in 1991, they
continue to lag behind men;� as of 1997, literacy rates for
women were 73 percent, compared to 91 percent for men. [27] � Furthermore, the proportion of young
women holding high school degrees in 1990 was only 13.4 percent. [28] � One Jordanian activist attributes
these disparities to �social constraints which place greater
value on education of males compared to females, whereby male
roles in employment, production and family are more overtly
stressed.� As for vocational training, girls� schools are
geared toward home economics, while boys� schools are geared
toward industry and agriculture.� [29]
CONVENTION
ARTICLE 11: EMPLOYMENT
Just
11 percent of women participate in the labor force in Jordan,
one of the lowest rates in the world. [30] ��
Unemployment among women has risen from 5.9 percent in 1972
to 11.7 percent in 1979, 30.6 in 1990 and 34 percent in 1995,
considerably higher than the unemployment rate among men. [31] Very few women are found in managerial
and highly skilled jobs.� In the private sector they constitute
only 4.1 percent of employees in the highest paid managerial
jobs. [32]
Labor
Law
Jordan�s
Labor Law lacks a clear statement regarding wage or employment
equality between men and women.� Wage discrimination is common
in the private sector, and there is no minimum wage.� A 1987
survey of the state sector indicated that men�s pay was 27.9
percent higher than that of females of equal education, age,
and experience.� Additionally, the Labor Law forbids women
from performing certain jobs and working from the hours of
7 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the absence of special circumstances. [33]
CONVENTION
ARTICLE 13: ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL LIFE
Jordanian
women�s organizations argue that� women have not been directly
targeted for development in Jordan and women's interests are
seen as restricted to conventional social roles.� Although
development projects may provide short-term benefits to women,
they are ineffective and unsustainable because of the premise
on which they are based.� For instance, rather than investing
in the education of women, which promotes the freedom to decide
the size of their own families, �family planning� policies
are designed solely to have women bear fewer children.� Women�s
advocates claim that �micro-lending� schemes for women in
order to combat poverty fail to encourage decision making,�
and most of the efforts made by women usually end up benefiting
the male members of the family.� According to a report on
the status of women in Jordan prepared by a coalition of Jordanian
women�s groups, �unless the economic participation of women
is included within a global framework, such subordination
will continue reproducing poverty.� [34]
Women�s
advocates in Jordan have attributed the inadequacy of development
schemes to women�s absence at all levels of development planning.
The government�s five-year development plan for the years
1986-1990 was prepared by an 18-member all-male committee,
and the plan for the years 1993-1997 was prepared by a 24-member
committee that included one woman. [35]
CONVENTION
ARTICLE 16: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LAW
Jordan
has reserved on Convention Article 16 c, d, and g of Article
16 on the assumption that these provisions contradict Shari�a
and personal status laws.� However, as the UNDP/UNICEF study
on CEDAW in Jordan points out, �there is no unanimity in laws
concerning women�s capacity and family issues in the Islamic
countries.� For example, reservations concerning Article 15
were made only by Jordan (15/4) and Tunisia (15/4), but not
by other 9 Arab countries that ratified the Convention.� [36]
�
The
Personal Status Law
According
to the Personal Status Law, the legal age for marriage is
15 for women and 16 for men.�� A guardian is required to administer
a bride�s marriage contract.� Unlike men, women must specifically
request a special clause in their marriage contract to obtain
the right to divorce, and the law requires men to pay support
to divorced wives for only one year.� According to one outside
expert, the real problem is that the few protections that
are included in the law are often not respected, particularly
as to child support and inheritance rights. [37]
��
The
�Family Book� (daftar al-�a�ilah)
According
to Jordan�s Civil Status Law, the �family book� is required
to conduct nearly all official transactions, including voting
or being a candidate for elected office, registering children
for school or university, obtaining civil service jobs or
gaining access to social services such as food assistance.�
Upon marriage, a woman is transferred from her father�s daftar
to that of her husband.� If a woman is �separated� from a
daftar due to divorce or death, the only solution is
to re-register under the daftar of a male family member,
which becomes problematic if the male family member is working
abroad or deceased. [38] �
Inheritance
Rights
In
1990, women�s rights to inherit were restricted to conform
literally to Shari�a, giving women only half the share that
their brothers could receive.� Until that time, their inheritance
rights had been equal to those of men. [39]
Widows
inherit one-eighth of the husband�s estate if there are children
and one-fourth if there are no children.� By contrast, widowers
inherit one-fourth of their wives� estate if there are children
and one-half if there are none.� Additionally, according to
Jordanian activists, in many cases, daughters� inheritances
are managed by male family members, further denying their
access to their already limited share. [40]
GENERAL
RECOMMENDATION NO. 19: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
In
1996, 483 crimes were committed against women, including murder,
attempted murder, kidnapping, injury, and rape.� The motives
for such crimes were usually family disputes, honor, or robbery.�
The lack of laws prohibiting aggression against women and
female minors, or acts of violence within the family, legitimates
violence against them. In addition, a combination of social
factors leads to impunity.� According to a report by Jordanian
women�s activists, �family pressures stemming from tribal
concepts, the authority vested in the male, the acceptance
by women of their secondary status in society and of the right
of the man to abuse and punish them, all contribute to engulfing
violence against women in a shroud of secrecy.� [41]
Honor
Killing
An
honor crime (torture or murder) is an assault committed against
a woman by a male family member in response to alleged sexual
misconduct. [42] � According to Article 340 of the penal
code, �he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives
has committed adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one or
both of them, is exempted from any penalty.��� In a landmark
ruling in July 1999, a Justice Ministry panel decided to annul
an article of the Penal Code that provides for leniency toward
men who commit violent acts against women in the �honor� context.��
In November 1999, however, Parliament rejected the change.�
Members stated that they fear that the annulment of the law
would �unleash widespread social delinquency.� [43] � Meanwhile, police reports indicate
that between 25 and 30 women are killed annually (one-third
of the murders in Jordan [44] ) in the name of family honor, making
it the most common type of murder of women in the country. [45] � In 1997, 95 percent
of women killed in Jordan for alleged violations of honor
later were proved to be innocent of �immoral behavior.� [46]
Rania
Arafat refused an arranged marriage with a cousin and eloped
with her Iraqi boyfriend.� In 1997,� she was lured into a
field by two aunts and shot four times in the back of the
head by her 17-year old brother. [47] � In another case in 1994, a 16-year
old girl was murdered by her older brother because she had
been raped and become pregnant by her younger brother.� The
family encouraged the older brother to �cleanse� the family
honor, fearing ridicule by neighbors. [48]
According
to law, a �crime of honor� defense may be invoked by a defendant
who �surprises his wife or any close female relative� in the
act of adultery or fornication.� Defendants who successfully
employ this defense are found� innocent of murder.� More often,
the man acts on a report of the inappropriate sexual behavior
of his wife, sister, niece or cousin without investigating
or witnessing the incident.� Defendants who do not meet the
strict interpretation of the honor crime law and are found
guilty of murder typically spend only three months to two
years in prison.� The penalty for murder in other circumstances
is death for first degree murder and 15 years in prison for
second degree murder.�
Women
may not invoke the honor defense for murdering a male relative
under the same circumstances; nor may they use it for killing
men who attempt to rape them, sexually harass them , or otherwise
threaten their honor. The penalty if the female defendant
is found guilty of murder is death. [49]
Rape
and Domestic Violence
In
the case of rape, cultural and social traditions coupled with
inadequate laws inform discriminatory legal practices, which
hinder a woman�s ability to obtain legal and medical assistance.�
Furthermore, the effect of violence against a kidnapped or
raped woman is exacerbated by the practice of dropping the
prosecution if the perpetrator agrees to marry his victim.�
The right to prosecute is re-established if he divorces her
before the passage of three years of marriage without legitimate
grounds, in accordance with Article 308.�� The perpetrators
usually agree to marry the victim, to evade punishment, without
the goal of building a family.�� Marriage for the victim in
such a case becomes a means to cover up the scandal and avoid
shame.� At the same time, it is an encouragement to a man
who is turned down by a woman to kidnap her and force her
into marriage. [50]
Marital
rape is legal.� While wife beating is considered grounds for
divorce, a husband can argue that the Quran gave him the authority
to discipline his wife for irreligious or insubordinate behavior. [51]
ACTIONS
BY OTHER UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS:
Committee
Against Torture.� Concluding Observations of the Committee
Against Torture: Jordan. 26/07/95. A/50/44, paras. 159-182.
No
recommendations concerning women were issued by this Committee.
Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child:
Jordan. 25/04/94. CRC/C/15/Add.21
Concerns,
Suggestions and Recommendations:
�
Concern
that, although the National Charter guarantees equality between
the sexes in Jordan, discriminatory attitudes and prejudices
continue to exist.� Disparities exist in the areas of inheritance
rights, the right to leave the country and the acquisition
of Jordanian nationality.� In the last respect, the Committee
is concerned that in the light of Jordanian legislation, statelessness
could arise.� It is also concerned that the national legislation
with respect to the minimum age for marriage may not be fully
compatible with the non-discrimination provisions of the Convention.
�
Take
measures to prevent and eliminate discriminatory attitudes
and prejudice and ensure effective protection against discrimination,
particularly with regard to the girl child and children born
out of wedlock, as well as any differentiation resulting from
the status of parents.
�
Conduct
a study on the nature and extent of domestic violence; develop
appropriate follow-up measures, including family education
and social support.
�
Give
emphasis in school education to the values of peace, tolerance
and respect of human rights.
�
Take
steps to improve school attendance for children living in
remote areas, to reduce the school drop-out rate and to raise
the level of literacy, particularly among females.
