SDG Blog 4

Gender Equality in Qatar



Unfortunately, Qatar has been ranked the second worst country in the world when it comes to gender equality (Sintia, 2020). With this being said, women in Qatar face a great amount of discrimination and oppression. There is a significant lack of women in work, school, and political seats. In fact, Qatar's Gender Gap Index of 2014 indicates that their economic participation is ranked 101/142, political participation is ranked 140/142, and educational attainment is ranked 94/142 (Spring Forward, 2015.). These statistics demonstrate the need for new gender equality implementation in Qatar in order to achieve gender equality for their sustainable development goal.

In order to combat this discrimination against women and provide them with natural human rights, "the Human Rights Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Qatar had organized a forum which had focused on scrutinising and analysing the achievements to date," (Committee, 2019). This forum allowed Committee Experts to ask Delegates questions in regarding their efforts for change. After presenting various reforms and emphasizing the need to eliminate women's oppression in Qatar, some changes have been seen. According to the report, "Four women had joined the Shura Council (...) the Family Affairs Department had been established within the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, as a high-level body to deal with the family and especially women’s issues, in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030," (Committee, 2019). However, Committee Expert pointed out that the there are still two major laws, the Family Law and Nationality Act, that are preventing Qatari women from making any real progress towards equality. Furthermore, there is no law prohibiting domestic violence nor is there a national strategy that acknowledges this issue.


In regard to these barriers, Qatar has recently enforced a variety of projects that will tackle this issue; "The National Development Strategy 2018-2022 contained 56 projects which addressed issues such as social protection, women’s empowerment, family support, home support services, and others," (Committee, 2019). These projects include the implementation of a National Anti-Trafficking Committee in order to fight human trafficking and punish those responsible for involvement. 
Based on this information, Qatar is slowly working towards gender equality. However, I do believe more enforcement should take place due to the little amount of change they are experiencing today. 





References

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women examines the report of Qatar. (2019). OHCHR. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24789&LangID=E. 

Radu, S. 2020. Top 10 Worst Countries for Gender Equality, Based on Perception. U.S. News. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/slideshows/10-worst-countries-for-gender-equality-ranked-by-perception

Spring Forward for Women Programme. (2015). UN Women. Retrieved from https://spring-forward.unwomen.org/en/countries/qatar

SDG Blog 3

Gender Equality in Jordan



Today, Jordan is working on meeting gender equality and female empowerment in their country in several different ways. This focus on diminishing gender inequality will allow more access to education, occupations, health services, land and property, and political decision making. This equal accessibility to these things will broaden our chance to become a much more feasible world.

According to USAID, with equal access to education, "Jordan boasts a highly educated female population with the potential to advance Jordan’s economic, social, and political development," (Gender Equality and Female Empowerment, 2019). However, although Jordan is slowly working towards this equality, there is still a gap between men and women and "constitutional rights and acceptable social norms, with traditional expectations and cultural restraints continuing to limit women’s advancement," (Gender Equality and Female Empowerment., 2019). Despite this, Jordan has partnered with USAID Mission and they are constantly helping Jordan create policy reforms to allow equal education. In fact, they have developed 59 laws and procedures that promote gender equality (Klein, 2018). These laws have helped over 94% of girls to attend primary school and 90% to attend secondary school. Furthermore, they have allowed Jordan to receive one of the highest literacy rates of girls in the Middle East (97.3%), (Klein, 2018). Several programs such as Go Girls, a national initiative that encourages the exposure of STEM subjects to girls, have also been implemented in hopes of achieving gender equality in education.

Aside from education, Jordan is also focusing on the presence of women in politics. According to UN Women, only about one sixth of seats in Jordan's Parliament are held by women (Jordan pledges..., n.d.). In regard to this, government organizations such as The Jordanian National Commission for Women are emphasizing the need for women in policy and narrowing the gap that exists today. New laws have also been implemented and have revised the past electoral law. The New Electoral Law has assigned 15 seats for women (Jordan pledges..., n.d.). After this was initiated, there has been an increase in the total number of women from 12% to 15.4% (20 women), (Jordan pledges..., n.d.).

Jordan has been able to increase gender equality by partnering with organizations, revising laws, and monitoring programs that have been created for SDG 5. Jordan's partnership with USAID, UNICEF, and other nongovernmental organizations has allowed them to become closer to their goal.


References

Gender Equality and Female Empowerment. (2019). USAID. Retrieved from https://www.usaid.gov/jordan/gender-equality-womens-empowerment

Jordan pledges to align national laws with international commitments and expand support to women and girls in many areas (updated). (n.d.) UN Women. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/step-it-up/commitments/jordan

Klein, Grace. (2018). Top 10 Facts About Girls' Education in Jordan. Retrieved from https://borgenproject.org/top-10-facts-about-girls-education-in-jordan/