"‘More efforts needed to include women in labour market’", 8 March 2018

... Jordan Labour Watch (JLW)... issued a position paper in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) calling for “the improvement of the capacities of the Jordanian economy in order to create adequate and decent work opportunities for all new entrants”, stressing “the need to take into account the role of women in the labour market and the national economy”... [T]he paper pointed out the “weak” role of women in the Jordanian economy as “one of the main problems faced by the country”, stressing that “the lack of women in the labour market places additional pressure on the national economy by depriving it from the untapped potentials of female workers, especially considering that the female education rate in Jordan is higher than that of males”. The organisation noted that there has been a “slight” progress in the economic participation rates for women, which stood at 16.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2017, while the percentage of women participating in the Social Security Corporation at the end of 2016 was 27.4 per cent... [However], JLW [said]... “women are more exposed to violations of their basic rights than men”... [G]ender consultant at the International Labour Organisation Reem Aslan... [said] “the main reason why women do not join the workforce is the gender pay gap, which can reach 36 per cent... in many cases, their salaries do not even cover the costs of transportation to the workplace and daycare facilities for their children”...