On October 15 of each year, Jordan and the rest of the world celebrate the International Day of Rural Women. Under the theme “Building Rural Women’s Resilience in the Wake of Covid-19”, the International Day of Rural Women this year, aims to raise awareness of the struggles and needs of rural women and their vital contribution to our society. The occasion this year, coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has had a devastating impact on the global economy and has led to isolating countries for protracted period. While the pandemic affected all groups of society, its effect on vulnerable groups has been far greater, and becomes even worse in rural areas.

In a special press release marking this occasion, HPC Secretary General, Dr. Abla Amawi, said that on top of the challenges rural women encounter in their day-to-day lives, restrictive social customs and gender stereotypes can also limit rural women’s access to healthcare services. Amawi added that rural women also face numerous challenges that men do not face, such as limited access to resources and services including lands, financing, training, production inputs and equipment.

With regard to health indicators for rural women, Amawi stated that according to the Population and Family Health Survey of 2017-2018, ever-married women (aged 15-49) who live in rural areas and have a form of health insurance reached (79.3%), while total fertility rate among women in rural areas reached 3.1 children per woman compared to 2.7 children per woman in urban areas. On the other hand, with regard to women’s economic participation, the revised economic activity rate reached 16.9%, the percentage of working women reached 11.2% and unemployment reached as high as 31.1% for Jordanian women living in rural areas (aged 15 years and above) in 2018.

Amawi indicated that according to Department of Statistics data on educational attainment, the illiteracy rate among Jordanian females living in rural areas (aged 15 and above) reached 13% compared to 6.6% for females in urban areas. The data also shows that informal labor in Jordan represents 44% of the total workforce in the Jordanian economy, of which women represent 56.8%, making them the most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While agriculture comprises only 5.6% of Jordan’s GDP, the agricultural value chain represents (15-20%) of GDP and employs more than 15% of the active population in Jordan. In addition, agriculture employs 52% of women living in rural areas.

Amawi explained that the agricultural sector offers around 210 thousand job opportunities and is considered a source of income for approximately 118 thousand families in rural and Badia areas in the form of family labour in agriculture. Noting the importance of empowering rural women in the agricultural sector, Amawi pointed out that women hold around 18.5 thousand jobs in the agricultural sector and represent 20.2% of the hired labour in it.

National statistics for 2018 showed that 9.7% of the Jordanian population reside in rural areas, compared to 90.3% in urban areas. The estimated population of rural areas stood at (995,400) including (470,824) women, while the average rural family size is 5.1 individuals compared to 4.7 individuals for urban families.

HPC stressed that Jordan is committed to supporting rural women through its commitment to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which asserts under article 14 the contributions of rural women to ending poverty and achieving food security and nutrition. The convention also calls on all member states to uphold and safeguard the rights of rural women in terms of their access to resources and participation in decision-making.

HPC recommends targeting economic support to these groups of the population in order to combat poverty and unemployment, provide safe learning opportunities and access to necessary healthcare during Covid-19. This can be achieved by granting interest-free loans to small farmers and women to implement projects, as well as skilling women particularly in rural communities in home-based food production and in marketing and preserving products properly.

HPC explained that the Covid-19 outbreak could lead to destroying poor rural communities and small-scale food producers who suffer from weak resilience, malnutrition, and limited access to resources and services.