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AMMAN — The women movement's efforts in Jordan are "somehow fragmented", according to an expert, who has warned of a "real" crisis in the understanding of feminism and gender issues.

Citing these issues as the reasons behind the "lack" of knowledge and theory production on gender issues, Wafa Khadra, assistant professor at the American University of Madaba, said priorities of funding, as identified by international organisations contribute to the "division" in women movements.

She made her remarks during a symposium to discuss feminism, its history and current reality in the Arab world, held earlier this week by the Building Bridges Association and the German Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung. 

Khadra, who is also an expert on gender, stressed the need for "sisterhood" as a way to unite women's efforts towards equality, calling for engaging women from all governorates and walks of life in discussions to formulate a blueprint for action. 

"Women of Amman should not abduct the voices of those in Tafileh and Madaba for instance… we need a network where we can all connect," she said, noting that women have always been affected by the conflict between the East and the West, resulting in a state of "expatriation" in women's relationship with themselves.

Academic and thinker Hisham Ghassib presented a briefing on women in Marxism and how the movement perceives feminism, which should "dismantle" Capitalism in order to free women.

"Oppression of women has been associated with the emergence of private equities," he said, calling for an appropriate discourse that addresses women issues and suffering. 

"I believe Marxism is conceptually prepared to take on such a mission against exploitation and oppression," Ghassib said. 

On the other hand, Abeer Dababneh, director of the University of Jordan's (UJ) women studies centre, shed light on the concept of "religious interpretive feminism", which seeks to introduce different interpretations of religious texts that achieve women's equality and dignity. 

"Given the nature of our societies, I think this school of thought might bring us forward, particularly as religious texts have always been read and interpreted by men," she noted. 

However, Maysoon Otoum, who also works at the UJ women studies centre, said perceiving Arab women as "falling behind" is "unfair" and "illogical", arguing that "meta-narratives", such as Marxism and Liberalism are only Western theories that might not suit women in all societies. 

"We have to look for our own perceptions because what works for the other might not suit us," she said. 

Gynaecologist Maher Sarraf presented a historical briefing on the concept of sexuality and how women "fell from the status of goddesses to slaves thanks to patriarchy".

The symposium is one of a series of roundtable discussions the Building Bridges Association is planning to hold this year, according to its director, Haifa Haidar.

AMMAN — Although Nadine Karadsheh has an excellent command of the French language, she still finds a chance to improve her language skills during the Francophonie Week, which started on Sunday. 

The 11th grader, who has been studying French since the age of three, said she learns new words from the 10 internationally selected words every year and puts them into practice through activities held by Institut Français.

“La Francophonie” is an international organisation of French-speaking countries and governments, as well as the community of French speakers. 

Every year, 10 words are picked that invite French language learners to explore the language of different Francophonie countries. 

Karadsheh was among a group of students at the French School of Amman who participated in the opening activities of the international Francophonie Week at the institute. The activities will continue until March 20. 

The students practised putting the selected words into meaningful sentences to create texts and pieces of poetry or to visually represent the indications of the words in drawings.

Over 2,000 students in Jordan are preparing to obtain an official certification of practising the French language, in addition to some 1,500 students from over 30 nationalities enrolled in the institute every year, its director, Stéphane Delaporte, said.

French is the official language in 32 countries scattered across five continents, with around 300 million speakers and 150 million students studying French around the world, he said, adding that French is the second most studied language in Jordan after English.  

Activities of the week, which is held in partnership with the French, Lebanese, Swiss, Egyptian, Romanian and Tunisian embassies, celebrate the cultural diversity of French-speaking countries.

The week includes film screenings, culinary workshops, musical performances and field visits to private and public schools and universities that teach the French language.

Delaporte highlighted educational opportunities for Jordanians in France. On the other hand, he noted that the number of French people studying Arabic in France is very little and  stands at some 6,000 individuals.

AMMAN­ — The Bangladeshi embassy on Monday said it was waiting for the results of an investigation by Jordanian officials to transport a domestic helper who was reportedly killed by her employers over the weekend.

The 33-year-old Bangladeshi woman was reportedly murdered by her Jordanian employer in the northern city of Irbid over the weekend.

A government autopsy indicated that the victim had old and new bruises on different parts of her body, including a fatal blow to her head.

“Our lawyer is following up with the Jordanian authorities regarding this unfortunate incident,” Lubna Yasmin, the first secretary at the embassy, said. 

The embassy official added that the next of kin has not been notified yet “because we are waiting for her full identification documents to locate her address in Bangladesh and inform her family”.

“Once we obtain the necessary documents from the Jordanian government and her body is released, we will make all the necessary arrangements to send her back home,” Yasmin told The Jordan Times.

A couple was charged with manslaughter on Saturday in connection with the domestic helper's death by Irbid Criminal Court Prosecutor Qahtan Qawaqzeh.

The couple first claimed that the woman was found unconscious in the bathroom on Friday. But attending physicians at the hospital detected bruises on her body and alerted the authorities.

The suspects were summoned by police and confessed in front of Qawaqzeh that they would “regularly beat up the woman with iron bars, wooden sticks and their hands and feet because she was not good at house work and was not clean”.

They claimed that they had beaten up the victim on Thursday and that “she went to the bathroom to take a shower and sleep there. They left her there and on Friday went to check on her and found her unconscious”, official sources told The Jordan Times earlier this week.

The two suspects told investigators they did not check on her for two days because they “knew that she loved to sleep a lot and that they heard her at one time snoring”, the sources added.

The victim had been working for the man and his wife, who is three months pregnant, for the past year-and-a-half.

The two have three daughters all under five years old.

Both are currently detained at correctional and rehabilitation facilities pending further investigation.

“Qawaqzeh is still questioning witnesses and gathering the necessary investigation and medical reports to refer the case to the court,” a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

AMMAN — Rain and below average temperatures are forecast for Tuesday as the Kingdom will remain under the impact of a relatively cold and wet air mass, the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD) said on Monday.

The air mass, which started affecting Jordan on Sunday, is forecast to continue until the end of the week, according to a JMD meteorologist, who said that rain is expected, especially in the northern and central regions.

Temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday will be two degrees below their annual average of 16ºC for this time of the year, said the forecaster, who requested anonymity, and the weather will be relatively cold and cloudy, while light rain is expected in the northern and central regions.

Daytime temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday will be 14ºC, dropping to a low of 7ºC at nighttime in Amman, while winds will be brisk and gusty, raising dust in the southern and eastern parts, the meteorologist said.

Another slight drop in temperatures is forecast for Thursday, when the weather will remain relatively cold and rainy at times in the north and centre of the country, according to the JMD, which said that winds will be westerly moderate to brisk, raising dust in the eastern and southern regions.

"By nighttime, chances of rainfall will drop, and fog formation is expected in mountainous areas," the forecaster said.

Temperatures are expected to range between a maximum of 13ºC and a minimum of 6ºC in Amman, according to the JMD.

By Monday morning, a total of 72 per cent of the rainy season, which started in October, had been realised, the department said.

AMMAN — Students from the University of Jordan (UJ) and other universities around the Kingdom were still protesting a UJ decision to raise tuition fees for the parallel and post-graduate programmes on Monday.

Entering their 16th day of protests, students say they have not received “a clear response” from the university administration.

“For the past two weeks, the UJ protest has been the talk of town, where many figures and media outlets either supported or attacked us and questioned our intentions,” a fourth-year student enrolled in the parallel programme said on Monday.

Political analyst and Al Ghad daily columnist Mohammad Abu Rumman wrote about the protest, voicing hope that the authorities would pay more attention to the needs of the younger generation, calling for a re-evaluation of the "harsh economic conditions" affecting all segments of society, including students who cannot afford tuition fees.

In his Al Rai column, economist Fahed Fanek has expressed solidarity with the university administration, writing that the decision to raise fees is necessary to cover UJ's financial needs.

“The university should be administered by its president and board of trustees, not by students or by Thabahtoona [the National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights] group by raising voices and slogans to defend their own interests,” Fanek said.

“Compulsory education is free and at the expense of the government. This is for sure, but post-graduate education is not,” he wrote.

Thabahtoona said the absence of a response from the government is “strange".

UJ President Ekhleif Tarawneh wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday that the university is considering “phasing out” the parallel programme that was created in the 1980s to make up for the financial deficit caused by the regular programme. 

Thabahtoona coordinator, Fakher Daas, said phasing out the parallel programme is not “a good solution” and it has been suggested before but not implemented.

“In 2006, the university president at that time suggested closing the parallel programme, but [without providing] alternative solutions,” Daas told The Jordan Times on Monday, adding: “If they phase out the parallel programme, they will raise the fees for the regular programme.”

The parallel programme is allocated for students whose General Secondary Education Certificate Examination scores do not qualify them to study specific subjects at public universities through the regular programme.

Tuition fees for this programme are higher than regular programmes.

Daas described the suggested solutions as “vague” and “not serious” to address problems through long-term plans. 

“I believe insufficient answers are being provided. Attacking students and accusing them of being brought to campus by outsiders is not how the university should deal with the problem,” he stressed.

According to Hisham Ayasrah, one of the protesters, in the first week of protest, students were accused of being brought by political parties that want to promote their ideologies; afterwards, they were accused of drinking alcohol on campus and doing drugs. 

The PhD student said the organisers and protesters belong to different political parties and some are independent, adding that if the rumours were true about alcohol and drugs, the UJ administration should “take the responsibility for what enters campus”.

“There are around 7,000 cameras on campus, in addition to the large number of security personnel at university gates,” he told The Jordan Times.

UJ officials were not available to comment on the protest on Monday.

AMMAN — The army said on Monday that Border Guards received 107 Syrian refugees during the previous 24 hours.

The troops transferred the refugees to shelters and camps, and Royal Medical Services personnel treated the injured, according to an army statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

AMMAN — The Jordanian forces that participated in the "Thunder of the North" joint military exercise in Saudi Arabia returned to the Kingdom on Monday after the drill concluded, according to an army statement.

Participating at the exercise, in which 20 Islamic and Arab countries took part, is part of the training plans implemented by the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army to exchange expertise and enhance military relations with the armies of friendly countries, the statement said. 

AMMAN — The Telegraph daily has ranked visiting Wadi Rum in fourth place on a list of "50 greatest adventures to try in your lifetime".

The valley, located 60km to the east of Aqaba, came after the first-placed Lost World and Angel Falls in Venezuela, the Classic Trail in New Zealand and the Red Centre in Australia. 

The British publication quotes British officer T.E Lawrence in its description of Wadi Rum, some 328 south of Amman, who wrote in his book, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom", about passing through the area several times during the Great Arab Revolt.

“Rum the Magnificent. Vast, echoing and God-like,” Lawrence wrote.

The Telegraph described the wadi as "one of the world’s most dramatic landscapes".

An adventure there is "a trek that takes on ancient trails through hidden canyons to the summits of several of the biggest formations in Jordan", the paper said.

Wadi Rum has become a main attraction for campers, rock climbers and trekkers due to its rock formations and landscape. 

The destination has also become a go-to spot for filmmakers from Hollywood and elsewhere. 

British director Ridley Scott filmed his Oscar-nominated film, "The Martian" in Wadi Rum.

Other Oscar nominees this year, "Theeb" from Jordan and the Danish "A War", were
also shot there.

The area was previously used as a filming location for movies such as "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", "Mission to Mars", "Red Planet", and "Lawrence of Arabia". 

In 2011, UNESCO announced that Wadi Rum had been inscribed into the list of World Heritage Sites, for both its natural drama and cultural significance. 

"Petroglyphs, inscriptions and archaeological remains in the site testify to 12,000 years of human occupation and interaction with the natural environment," the World Heritage List website says. 

"The combination of 25,000 rock carvings, with 20,000 inscriptions, trace the evolution of human thought and the early development of the alphabet. The site illustrates the evolution of pastoral, agricultural and urban activity in the region," it adds.

AMMAN — The Public Security Department on Monday announced working hours for the Wadi Araba border crossing for passengers and cargo on Tuesday.

The crossing will be closed to passengers and cargo movement from 1:30pm to 4pm. 

AMMAN — Over 192,200 transactions worth JD17.6 million have been paid through the eFAWATEERcom service since its launch last year and until the end of February, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, citing Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) figures. 

In February alone, 96,600 transactions were processed compared to 11,000 in the same month in 2015, Petra reported, adding that the transactions were mostly for the telecom sector, government institutions and basic services. 

The Social Security Corporation (SSC) said in a statement on Monday that monthly subscriptions can now be paid through eFAWATEERcom for establishments and individuals.

Facilities or individuals can use the service to pay in advance, the statement said, adding that the service was available before but payment was only possible when the subscription fee was due. 

In December 2015, 5,000 SSC monthly subscription payments worth JD2.6 million were paid via eFAWATEERcom, the statement said.

Subscribers who have accounts in local banks can access www.ssc.gov.jo and use the eFAWATEERcom service to pay their dues, the SSC said.

Several public and private entities are linked to eFAWATEERcom, which enables Jordanians to inquire about and pay their bills online.

In December last year, the ministries of interior, municipal affairs and trade, as well as the Royal Medical Services and the Jordanian Businessmen Association, signed agreements with the CBJ to offer services through the online platform.

Last February, the CBJ certified the local company Madfoo3atCom for Electronic Payments to launch the eFAWATEERcom service, which has been providing some 178 e-payment services for 47 private and public entities since its launch, according to the CBJ.

eFAWATEERcom facilitates payment procedures, saves users’ time and allows them further flexibility in using various inquiry and payment channels, CBJ Governor Ziad Fariz said in previous remarks, underscoring the system’s safety and transparency due to its “instant” transactions.