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Ammon News - Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Head of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Women Empowerment, Wafa Bani Mustafa, stressed the need to make progress in achieving more legislative justice for women.

This process should focus on legislation related to women's political and economic participation, which has become a "pressing" necessity to increase household income, revive the economy and increase GDP, Bani Mustafa added.

The minister's remarks came at the closing symposium held by the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) and Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, on Sunday, entitled: "Women Business Owners Economically and Commercially on an Equal Footing with Men", as part of the Female Entrepreneurship and Empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region.

International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that the gender gap in labor force participation in Jordan led to a loss of $8 billion in the value of GDP in 2018, Bani Mustafa said.

Meanwhile, UNICEF estimated that increase in women’s participation in the Jordanian labor force by 25% over the next seven years will help Jordan's GDP grow by 5% annually, she noted.

As for Jordan's ranking in economic participation according to the World Bank's 2021 Gender Gap Report, which measures countries' performance in 4 areas: Economic, political empowerment, respectively, health, and education, she said the Kingdom ranked 133 out of 156 countries.

This ranking, she noted, is an important indicator towards the need to work to increase women's economic participation, and coordinate efforts with Jordan's private sector to provide job opportunities, which would contribute to increasing women's economic presence.

Bani Mustafa indicated that Inter-Ministerial Committee for Women Empowerment is "aware" of the importance of increasing Jordan's ranking on global indicators, which is one of its most important priorities, as coordination has been made with the World Bank to discuss mechanisms to enhance Jordan's position on its Women, Business and the Law report.

Jordan, represented by Inter-Ministerial Committee for Women Empowerment, seeks through its Economic Modernization Vision, which was launched under Royal auspices, to focus on women's economic empowerment in the vision's initiatives, she noted.

The minister highlighted the vision's contribution to improving the conditions of working women, providing new job opportunities and enhancing the related legislative process.