A Conference on International Labour Standards in Jordan recommended elimination of all forms of discrimination between men and women, particularly in pension pay inheritance and dependency allowance.

The three-day conference, held by the International Labour Organization in partnership with the Jordanian House of Representatives, agreed that pension pay should not be less than the minimum wage, and called for legislative amendments ensuring equal pay for men and women workers for work of equal value.

“Ensuing pay equity is crucial and requires collective efforts by UN agencies, the government, parliament, employers, and labour unions,” said Hussein Al Harasis, Head of the Labour, Social Development, and Population Committee of the House of Representatives.

The participants recommended pay equity awareness programmes, as well as electronic wage payment to facilitate compensation monitoring, ensure compliance with minimum wage, protect worker rights, and help reduce gender pay inequality.

Representatives of the government, the House of Representatives, employers, workers, and civil society organisations (CSOs) agreed that Jordan’s constitution provides principles for protection of women from discrimination and violence. The ILO Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) offers guidelines for further defining the two phenomena, they said.

Convention No. 190 provides the first international definition of violence and harassment in the world of work, referring to a “range of unacceptable behaviours and practices, or threats thereof, whether a single occurrence or repeated, that aim at, result in or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm and includes gender-based violence and harassment”.

According to the Conference recommendations, Jordan’s Labour Law should include clear definitions of violence, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace, and employers need to adopt declared policies and complaint mechanisms to address these issues.

“The Jordanian Labour Law does not comprehensively define violence and harassment in the world of work … national laws do not provide gender-responsive protection,” said ILO legal external collaborator, Noura Saket.

The representative of the Women’s Industrial Council, Reem Baghdadi, said: “We support C190, but consultations should be held with all stakeholders before endorsing any legal amendments on workplace sexual harassment.”

The General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions renewed its calls for ratification of Convention No. 190. “The convention can provide mechanisms for tackling violence and harassment in the world of work,” said Bushra Al Salman, president of the General Union of Workers in Water, Agriculture, and Food Industry.

International labour standards

During the conference, supported by the Government of Norway, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), ILO specialists explained international labour standards, their requirements, how these legal instruments are set and adopted by ILO 187 member states.

International labour standards are drawn up by ILO constituents (governments, employers and workers), setting out basic principles and rights at work. They are either conventions (or protocols), which are legally binding international treaties that may be ratified by member states, or Recommendations, which serve as non-binding guidelines. In many cases, a convention lays down the basic principles to be implemented by ratifying countries, while a related recommendation supplements the Convention by providing more detailed guidelines on how it could be applied.

Conventions and recommendations are adopted at the annual International Labour Conference. Ratifying countries undertake to apply the convention in national law and practice and to report on its application at regular intervals. Technical assistance is provided by the ILO, if necessary.

To date, the ILO has adopted 190 conventions, including ten so-called Fundamental Human Rights Conventions, covering a broad range of work-related issues. In the Arab region, the ILO collaborates with governments, employers and workers to ensure implementation of conventions.

Jordan, which joined the ILO in 1956, has ratified 26 conventions, including seven Fundamental Conventions. Acknowledging Jordan’s progress in the ratification of the Fundamental Conventions, Lejo Sibbel, the Senior ILO Specialist on International Labour Standards did, however, also note that “a long time has passed since Jordan’s last ratification of an ILO convention”.

ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations “has sent observations to Jordan about its implementation of Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111),” said Sibbel. “We hope the Government of Jordan would address these observations in a speedy manner.”

Social protection

ILO Social Protection Technical Officer, Meredith Byrne, urged Jordan to enhance social protection coverage.

“Despite key steps taken by Jordan, social protection covers less than 40 per cent of people, and social security covers just 28 per cent of workers,” said Byrne, adding that social protection coverage should increase to 50 per cent.

Explaining Jordan’s social security system, Muhanad Quda, legal adviser to the Social Security Corporation (SCC), said: “Step by step, we will achieve our goal of implementing all insurance schemes under social protection.”

In the recommendations, the conference called for providing health insurance by Social Security Corporation for beneficiaries, within available resources; Studying eldercare systems through Ministry of Social Development programmes; and including persons with disabilities in social protection schemes, socioeconomic development plans, and anti-discrimination policies to protect their rights.

For Mahmoud Jalis, Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) representative, “providing social protection for workers is participatory responsibility that should be shared by employers, government, and international organisations.”

Social protection legislation should also cover informal economy workers, Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development Director (ARDD), Samar Muhareb said. “This should include Jordanians, migrants, refugees, and people with disabilities.”

The conference recommended increasing maternity leave for public and private sector workers to 14 weeks, in line with international labour standards, and stressing the importance of providing safe work environments for nursing and pregnant women.

Decent work environment for women

The participant called in their recommendations for expanding employment opportunities for women, developing their skills, engaging with labour unions to increase women’s representation there, and ensuring maternity protection in public and private sectors.

“The conference is important and comes after the launch of Jordan’s economic modernisation plan, seeking one million jobs for youths, and this requires decent work environments,” said Minister of Legal Affairs, Wafaa Bani Mustafa.

“We seek to create a healthy work environment for women by developing legislation in line with international labour standards, and women’s rights,” she added.

Second Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Haitham Ziadin, warned against the impacts of COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis on workers.

“These crises have exacerbated worker vulnerabilities. Inequality should be addressed to avert long-term effects on women and youths,” he said.

Frida Khan, ILO Jordan Country Coordinator and Gender Specialist, said “International Labour Standards set out principles of gender equality, freedom of association, freedom from forced labour and child labour, social protection and labour market governance”

The female labour force participation in Jordan remains low at 14 per cent - 15 per cent – an issue highlighted by Deputy Head of Mission, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Rita Furuseth Sandberg.

“The issue of the low rate of female labour force participation should be addressed … it is key to enhancing economic growth,” Sandberg stressed.

Safe transportation and health insurance are key factors in encouraging women to join the labour force, according to MoL Secretary General, Farouk Al Hadidi.

“Women need decent work environment to enable them to join labour market,” he said. “Partnership with private sector should be built to empower women, and help government and international organisations achieve development objectives.”

Reem Aslan, ILO Gender Specialist, Decent Work for Women Programme, said “challenges facing women in the labour market are many but more attention needs to be paid to the inability of obtaining leadership positions, and competing for high-paying jobs”.

Private education sector challenges

The conference discussed problems and issues facing private school teachers.

“Compliance with laws should be enforced to protect education sector workers, ensuring decent work standards and wage protection for women,” said Nariman Al Shawahin, Stand up with the Teachers campaign coordinator.

The conference recommended including independent daycares in social protection programmes associated with maternity insurance; supporting operating costs of these facilities in state budget; exempting their equipment, toys, and educational tools from tax and customs charges; endorsing mandatory preschool education; requiring formal organisation to establish workplace daycares; facilitating their licencing procedures; and encouraging investment in these establishments.

“We are working with CSOs on licencing home-based daycares, which should ensure protection and safety of children, and provide training for staff,” said Minister of Social Development, Ayman Al Mufleh. “Jordan needs 40,000 nurseries to provide care for more than one million children. This would create around 70,000 jobs for women.”

Representative of “Protect My Nursery” Campaign, Nibal Haleek, believes “daycares are key to empowering women’s, supporting working families, and reducing unemployment”.
Amer Hiyasat, Assistant Secretary General for Governorate and Development Affairs at the Ministry of Social Development called for “studying international conventions to reform legislation, serve national interests, and improve workers’ conditions in Jordan.”

For her part, Director of Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights Director, Linda Kalash cautioned that government plans to abolish MoL “will have grave impacts”.

“The ministry is needed for wage and worker protection, and labour market regulation.