Women's Economic Empowerment in Jordan, Oman and Tunisia
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Women’s Economic Empowerment in Jordan, Oman and Tunisia Humphrey School Capstone Report The Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs The University of Minnesota Rayan Deeb Jonathan Tvedt Zhamin Yelgezekova PA 8081 (009) / MDP 5200 Capstone Workshop Instructor: Dr. Robert Kudrle, Professor Spring 2020 Table of contents Abbreviations 4 List of tables and figures 5 Executive summary 6 Methodology and Theoretical Approach 8 Overview of trends across three countries 12 Labor force participation by gender 12 Ease of doing business 14 Legal Trends 15 Cultural Trends 17 Jordan 18 Structure of the economy 18 Population groups 20 Labor market 20 Laws about women 23 Women’s economic participation 25 Access to education 25 Access to capital 27 Women’s participation in formal employment 27 Mobility and Safety 28 Women’s entrepreneurship and participation in informal sector 29 Customs and culture 30 Oman 32 Structure of the economy 32 Physical structure and its settlement 32 Population groups 35 Labor market 36 Laws about women 38 Governmental decision-making system and Constitution 38 Women’s economic participation 41 Access to education 41 Access to capital 42 Women’s participation in the formal employment 43 2 Occupational health and safety 45 Women’s entrepreneurship and participation in informal sector 46 Customs and culture 48 Tunisia 52 Structure of the economy 52 Physical structure and its settlement 52 Population groups 53 Labor market 53 Laws about women 55 Governmental decision-making system 55 Women’s economic participation 61 Access to education 61 Women’s participation in formal employment 62 Mobility 64 Women’s entrepreneurship and participation in informal sector 65 Customs and culture 67 Common trends 69 List of references 72 3 Abbreviations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination CEDAW against Women CIA Central Intelligence Agency EIU Economist Intelligence Unit GAD gender and development GDP gross domestic product HRW Human Rights Watch ICRW International Center for Research on Women IFC International Finance Corporation ILO International Labour Organization IMF International Monetary Fund IRI International Republican Institute MENA Middle East and North Africa SDG Sustainable Development Goal Ministry WFC Ministry for Women, Family Affairs and Children NCA National Constituent Assembly OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PAPFAM Pan Arab Project for Family Health STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematics UAE United Arab Emirates UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme 4 UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is a United Nations WAD women and development WID women in development List of tables and figures Table 1. The Freedom House: Women’s Rights in the MENA Region Table 2. Employment by Gender and Sector in Jordan (2018) Table 3. Percentage of Wage and Salaried Workers in Jordan by Gender Figure 1. Labor force participation by gender in Jordan, Oman, and Tunisia (% of female and male population in 2012-2016). Figure 2. Rates of unemployment in Jordan, Oman, and Tunisia by gender (% of female and male labor force in 2012-2016) Figure 3. Rates of youth unemployment in Jordan, Oman, and Tunisia by gender (% of female and male labor force in 2012-2016) Figure 4. Nationality of Working Population (%) in Jordan Figure 5. Labor Force Participation Rate by Sex (% of population ages 15+) Figure 6. Employment by industry, modeled ILO estimate. 5 Executive summary Background To develop greater insight into future programming in Jordan, Oman, and Tunisia, the International Republican Institute (IRI) posed the following question: What legal, cultural, and existing economic barriers are preventing women from contributing to their respective national economies? This question was submitted as a research proposal to the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs as a potential capstone project for Master’s degree-seeking students. The proposal by IRI was selected as the capstone project of three graduate students who were then commissioned to examine the existing literature, identify key themes to better assist IRI in understanding the context of women engaging in their respective economies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The result is a comprehensive analysis of the local and national barriers in Jordan, Oman, and Tunisia that prevent women from engaging in their national economies, and developing a stronger sense of economic empowerment. Purpose The purpose of this analysis is to give IRI a better understanding of the cultural, social, and legal contexts in three countries in which potential programming can be implemented to promote women’s economic empowerment. The implementation of programs to assist women in the MENA region with economic empowerment is a long-standing issue, as instability, cultural norms, and legal barriers have formed to create a complex, multi-layered dynamic, which has historically prevented women from achieving total economic agency. 6 Methodology The three person team developed a methodology to answer IRI’s question. The first step was a literature review. The beginning stage of step one consisted of each member researching existing literature via a thematic approach. For each country, one individual researched economic status-quos, one member researched the existing legal framework, and one individual researched cultural norms. Following an initial draft, this critical first step evolved into a country-by-country approach. For the following drafts, each member of the team researched all three of the aforementioned themes on an individual country basis. The second step served as a comparative examination of trends and key themes across the findings from Jordan, Tunisia, and Oman. Thus, it entailed comparing and contrasting the legal, economic and cultural barriers and governance challenges across the three countries. Findings Key findings include widespread informal business practices by male counterparts in each country, serving as barriers for the upward mobility of women in their respective economies. In addition, while Tunisia, Oman, and Jordan saw liberalized social policies following the 2011 Arab Spring, many cultural institutions continue to reinforce traditionalist beliefs that prevent women from further economic engagement. Finally, legal barriers such as business ownership, property rights, and laws involving family dynamics heavily favored male empowerment in each economy, giving women an inherent disadvantage in their career outlook. 7 Methodology and Theoretical Approach I. Methodology The overarching question posed by the International Republican Institute (IRI) is the following: What legal, cultural, and existing economic barriers are preventing women from contributing to their respective national economies? The question has been posed to better inform IRI on the needs of women workforces in Jordan, Oman, and Tunisia. Further, the question will allow IRI to assess the possibility of future programming entering these three countries to achieve higher levels of women’s participation in the economy. This report will serve as a rigorous analysis of the barriers to women’s economic empowerment in Oman, Jordan and Tunisia. It will entail an in-depth research on legal, economic and cultural barriers and governance challenges that limit women’s economic participation. To answer the question asked by IRI, we followed a following methodology that we developed as a team: ● Part I: Literature Review The majority of the work done for this research is the completion of a literature review through examining the existing legal, cultural, and economic barriers that are preventing women from contributing more to their respective economies. The sources utilized in this literature review consist of books, legislation and governmental orders, organizational reports, academic and scholarly papers and news outlets. ● Part II: Comparative examination This section will serve as a comparative examination of the barriers among the three different countries in order to analyze key trends in the MENA region. Thus, it will entail comparing and 8 contrasting the legal, economic and cultural barriers and governance challenges across the three countries. II. Theoretical approach: Women’s empowerment has become a prominent goal on the global agenda. The United Nations puts Gender Equality as a transcending goal across all sectors on its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) list (Goal 5). Targets on SDG Goal 5 include but are not limited to ensuring full participation of women in all spheres of life, giving them equal rights and access to economic resources and ownership, as well as promoting political decision-making power. However, the interpretation of this movement and the definition of empowerment vary widely. Scholars have developed multiple approaches such as women in development (WID), women and development (WAD), gender and development (GAD) and empowerment approaches. WID approach is focused on increasing women’s access but is not accounting for gender relations (Rathgeber, 1990). The WAD approach is built on previous WID but looks at this issue within the international structure and how it contributes to inequality (Rathgeber, 1990). GAD includes the relations between genders, and it aims at agency as a capability to advocate for women’s own rights and resources (Rathgeber, 1990). Empowerment, as a part of GAD approach, defines power as ability to access and manage different types of capital,