Women’s participation in vital sectors key to empowerment — Ghunaimat

AMMAN — Empowering women’s leadership cannot be separated from their empowerment in vital sectors, especially economic ones, Minister of State for Media Affairs Jumana Ghunaimat said on Sunday. 

Ghunaimat shed light on the need for the government, among various local and international institutions, to provide women with an environment that facilitates their ability to translate ideas into entrepreneurial, productive projects, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.  

The minister’s remarks came during the inaugural session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s regional conference on women’s entrepreneurship and intellectual property. 

“The main problem facing women in society is contribution to economic sectors,” Ghunaimat said, highlighting that women’s participation in the economic sphere stands at a mere 16 per cent.

She noted that this figure is disproportionate to the rates of educated women in the Kingdom, according to Petra.  

As part of its 2019/2020 priorities document, the government has drafted employment plans to mitigate the general 19 per cent unemployment rate, Ghunaimat noted, adding that it has created more than 18,000 additional jobs this year in cooperation with the private sector. 

Ghunaimat, who is head of the ministerial women’s empowerment committee, noted that Jordan provides a suitable entrepreneurship environment, according to Petra. 

Holding the conference in Jordan with the participation of 22 countries reflects the high level of interest in enhancing women’s entrepreneurship, Ghunaimat said, stressing the need to improving the legislative environment in favour of the cause and providing the necessary funding resources for women’s projects. 

The minister called on participants to implement a media campaign that sheds light on a culture of entrepreneurship in Arab communities and acts as a “gateway to women’s participation in productive projects that bolster their economic empowerment”.