WUNRN
Jordan - Women's Progress But
Honour Killings Persist
By Mona Alami
AMMAN,
Apr 22, 2010 (IPS) - Earlier this month, a 33-year-old man was charged with
hammering his wife to death and dumping her body on the highway leading to the
Also this
month local newspapers ran a story about a man allegedly shooting and killing
his Moroccan wife and her sister, and injuring her lawyer in the Ain Al Basha
area. The wife had filed for divorce and was on her way to court with the
lawyer when she was attacked.
"There
are about 12 honour crime cases every year in
Honour
crimes are considered acts of violence perpetrated by family members against
females who are perceived to have shamed the family. The Jordanian penal code
currently includes provisions justifying honour crimes to some extent by
allowing leniency in such situations.
"Tribes
also exert pressure on families to drop any civil suits, which can shorten a
murder sentence from 15 years to less than one," explains Dania Hjouj, a
lawyer at the JNCW. Under Jordanian law, murder cases often bring on a trial in
the criminal courts as well as a civil suit filed on behalf of the victim.
According to
Shalabi, about 49 percent of all complaints received by the centre are related
to domestic violence. Females are also often victimised financially. "Many
women are imposed with financial restrictions by their families," she
says.
Under
Islamic Shariah law, women in
Divorces
aggravate women’s rights in the country and often they are left penniless if
not supported by their families.
"The
situation is worse in the Christian community, as there is no financial
protection guaranteed for women in case of divorce (unlike Muslim law, in which
a prenuptial agreement is part of the marriage contract)," complains Anna,
a member of the Catholic community in
Christian
sects form about five percent of the Jordanian population, amounting to about
six million people.
To tackle
the problems facing women, Hjouj says that in recent years the government has
revamped the judicial system. "For example, a new law has been drafted to
force men to pay alimony for three years instead of six months, which was previously
the case," she says.
Another law
is underway to create a mandatory fund for divorced women, which would
guarantee a settlement from a former husband. Also in the pipeline are
amendments to the Personal Status Law regarding child custody, which currently
follows Shariah law and recognises the father as the legal guardian of children
after they reach seven years of age.
"Over
the past few years, we have pushed to change the law so that children can stay
with their mothers until the age of 12, and we are now trying to increase the
age limit to 15," says Hjouj.
In addition
to personal grievances, women also face discrimination at the professional
level in the business world. "Men are often paid higher salaries and given
more promotions than women in the workplace. This trend is further exacerbated
in the private sector, where disparities in wages can reach as high as 44
percent," underlines Shalabi.
In response
to such issues, the government has begun to introduce new legislation to
regulate inequalities. In 2009, parliament approved article 15 of CEDAW
(Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women),
which guarantees equality in legal and civil matters, more specifically
concerning the mobility of people and freedom in choosing their place of
residence, relieving women from the obligation to live with their parents or
husband.
The newly
drafted law unsurprisingly spurred protest from Islamic movements around the
country.
As more
progressive policies are adopted by the government of King Abdallah,
inequalities between men and women will decrease in the near future. Newly
enacted laws have imposed a 20 percent quota for women in municipal elections,
while six of the 110 parliamentary seats are reserved for women with plans to
double that figure to 12.
Women across
the kingdom are expected to benefit further from the gender-responsive
budgeting initiative launched this month in
The aim of
the new policy is to offer equal opportunities to women and men in government
jobs whereby training, assignment and other considerations for women are taken
into account while allocating the budget for each government branch.
"Policies
toward gender equality have certainly changed for the better in recent
years," says Anna. "However, outside the safe haven of
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