Amid the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, hundreds of women in Saudi Arabia are taking to social media to share their experiences of s**** harassment in a rare exploration of a taboo topic in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Government measures to stop the coronavirus spreading are keeping most of Jordan’s workers at home, but 40 women making crucial protective wear for medics under a pioneering initiative are the exception. Despite a strict countrywide lockdown, the mostly female workers at the Norseen garment factory in northern Jordan have been given special dispensation to go to work making masks and sterile suits under contract to the government. Although women account for more than half all college enrollments in Jordan, less than one in five women is in paid work, due largely to sexist attitudes and limited access to affordable childcare and transport. Yet they make up about 95% of staff at the Norseen Factory, which was set up in early 2019 as part of a government initiative to bring work to low-income areas. The factory, which usually makes protective gear for export, provides door-to-door bus transport for all the women,…
The UAE is among four countries that have attained the largest progress in women’s political representation over a 25-year period, revealed an Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, report. According to the report ‘Women in parliament: 1995 – 2020’, the largest progress in women’s representation has been achieved by “Rwanda, the United Arab Emirates, Andorra and Bolivia, with +57, +50, +42.8 and + 42.3 percentage points gained between 1995 and 2020, respectively, in their lower or single houses.” The IPU report noted that global women’s parliamentary participation has more than doubled over the past 25 years, reaching 24.9 percent in 2020, up from 11.3 percent in 1995. The UAE has positioned itself in fourth position globally as a result of the UAE’s 50:50 ratio for parliamentary participation. The report noted that the UAE is among three countries that have made “great strides in women’s participation” following the adoption of the 2019 presidential decree…
In commemoration of the International Women’s Day, the Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD) celebrates the achievements of the women’s rights agenda, particularly the implementation of Jordan’s National Action Plan (JONAP) on the UN Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security. Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and post-conflict reconstruction, while stressing the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security, according to the UN’s website. The ARDD, on behalf of Jordan National NGOs Forum (JONAF), represented by the Arab Cultural Forum, brought together representatives from the government, security agencies, educational institutions, representatives of civil society organisations and diplomatic missions in Jordan at Al Hussein Youth Sport City to mark the event, according to an ARDD statement. The…
Saudi Arabia is set to launch a female football league, two years after women were first allowed into stadiums in the Gulf kingdom. The league will play its matches in the capital, Riyadh, and two other cities. The creation of the league is the latest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reforms in Saudi Arabia, which has long been seen as one of the world’s strictest societies. Campaigners say much more remains to be done for women’s rights. Officials say the aim of the latest move is to boost female participation in sport. “The launch of the [league] bolsters women’s participation in sports at the community level and will generate increased recognition for women’s sports achievements,” the government-run Saudi Sports for All Federation said. Saudi women were first allowed into a football stadium in January 2018 – the same year that the Gulf kingdom ended a decades-long ban on female…
Saudi Arabia is still working rigorously towards integrating more women across the board, from supporting their appointment in top leadership positions and celebrating their achievements in all sectors, to proving safe and supportive environments for them at work through various initiatives. As part of its efforts, the country’s Human Resources Development Fund Program, also known as Hadaf or HRDF, established the Saudi Women Empowerment Program, which offers two core programs – Qurrat and Wusool – designed to encourage Saudi women to enter and remain in the workforce. Qurrat in particular is a key component in facilitating the lives of working mothers as it is a national childcare initiative supported by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development. Today, the results are in, to date, 2,514 women have benefitted from nurseries and daycare centers and services that have been set up in various regions of across the Kingdom. HRDF has also…
Iran’s only female Olympic medalist, Kimia Alizadeh, has announced that she is permanently leaving her country for Europe. The 21-year-old wrote in an Instagram post explaining why she was defecting, “Let me start with a greeting, a farewell or condolences,” “I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years.” Alizadeh became the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal after claiming bronze in the 57kg category of Taekwondo at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Affectionately known in Iran as “The Tsunami,” Alizadeh announced she was leaving her birth country amid searing criticism of the regime in Tehran. “They took me wherever they wanted. I wore whatever they said. Every sentence they ordered me to say, I repeated. Whenever they saw fit, they exploited me,” she wrote, adding that credit for her success always went to those in charge. “I wasn’t…
