Economic Empowerment

UN Women has a strong record on working to support women’s economic empowerment, as part of its mandate and history in advancing women’s rights and gender equality worldwide. UN Women invests in women’s economic empowerment as a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Within this framework, many international commitments support women’s economic empowerment, including the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and a series of International Labour Organization conventions on gender equality. UN Women supports women’s economic empowerment in line with these, and with the growing body of evidence that shows that gender equality significantly contributes to advancing economies and sustainable development. 

By working closely with local and national stakeholders, often engaging with grass roots and civil society organizations and by reaching out to women who are most marginalized such as rural and low skilled women, UN Women’s work in the field of women economic empowerment in Jordan has made great strides in overcoming national barriers preventing women from contributing to their country’s economy. The main focus of our Women Economic Empowerment Unit is to enhance capacities of women to secure decent jobs, own assets, influence institutions and public policies and to become change-makers, both in the public and private sectors. Our work on women economic empowerment also focuses on strengthening capacities of community based organizations, supporting income generating activities and raising public awareness on gender equality, women’s empowerment and economic participation. 

Within this framework, UN Women Jordan has been implementing the following initiatives: 

• Increasing Women Economic Participation in Poverty Pockets in Jordan (Al- Mafraq Governorate) 2013-2015. Read more
• Empowering rural women in the Mafraq Governorate through the management and preservation of Umm el-Jimal’s archaeological site in Jordan as income-generating activities. Read more
• “Spring Forward” Regional Programme for the Economic and Political Empowerment of Women in the southern Mediterranean Region during 2012-2016. Read more
• Achieving E-Quality (AEQ) in the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) sector, 2012-2014. Read more
• Promoting Gender Equity and Productivity in the Private Sector - Gender Equity Seal (GES). Read more