Outcome JOR_D_2.1

Enhanced inclusive, gender-responsive and green growth in Jordan that provides access to entrepreneurship and decent work opportunities, life-long learning, and market-relevant skills with a focus on LNOB

Progress toward the achievement of this outcome is on track. Women’s access to Entrepreneurship and decent work opportunities has been enhanced following the adoption of gender responsive national legal frameworks. The Ministry of Labor developed a Gender Mainstreaming Policy, with the technical support of UN Women, aligned with the Economic Modernization Vision (EMV) to inform the design of plans and interventions addressing female unemployment rate of 31.7%. Additionally, women have enhanced employment opportunities as the private sector developed policies to address gender discrimination in the workplace with the technical support of UN Women (sectors covered are; Telecom, Industrial, Engineering, Services and Hospitality). The policies focused on addressing gender-based violence, implementing gender-responsive marketing strategies, fostering equality in procurement processes, embracing gender-inclusive recruitment practices, and prioritizing impactful programs for promoting and mentoring individuals. Through their commitment, these organizations are not only reshaping workplace dynamics but also contributing significantly to the broader societal advancement of gender equality. Through their dedicated commitment, these organizations are not only transforming workplace dynamics but also making substantial contributions to the overall societal progress in achieving gender equality and women's employment.

Enhanced inclusive, gender-responsive and green growth in Jordan that provides access to entrepreneurship and decent work opportunities, life-long learning, and market-relevant skills with a focus on LNOB

In 2025, UN Women advanced progress toward the impact of women in Jordan having greater income security, decent work, and economic autonomy by strengthening the enabling environment and market systems that shape women’s access to jobs and entrepreneurship in alignment with the Economic Modernization Vision (EMV) and its Executive Plans through policy and legislator reforms, institutional support and accountability, private sector transformation, innovative financing models, and social norms’ shifts. UN Women supported the Government of Jordan to strengthen gender-responsive policy and legal frameworks that remove structural barriers to women’s work and improve protections and conditions. This included targeted technical support to revise and finalize the National Social Protection Strategy with the Ministry of Social Development 2025–2033, aligning it with international standards, the Economic Modernization Vision (EMV), and the Women’s Empowerment Strategy. UN Women also provided legal technical advice and evidence-informed analysis through the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) and its Legal Working Group, supporting parliamentary discussions on proposed reforms to the Labour Law and Social Security Law with evidence-based knowledge products. UN Women strengthened national institutions and coordination mechanisms that drive and sustain reform. UN Women supported the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) Legal Working Group through legal technical advice, developing key knowledge products, including the National Legislative Quick Gains Report proposing reforms to 48 legal instruments and a benchmarking analysis drawing on international best practices and the Women, Business and the Law Index. UN Women also advised on the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) bill and the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) and National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) laws, including technical inputs provided before and during parliamentary discussions. In addition, UN Women supported participatory analysis building on 2024 consultations of proposed reforms to the Labour Law and Social Security Law and developed a matrix analysis that the IMC Chair and Secretariat used to guide parliamentary deliberations and strengthen the technical basis for legislative decision-making. UN Women strengthened the government’s commitment and ability to generate and utilize evidence to identify legal and policy priorities. UN Women supported the Department of Statistics and Ministry of Labour in the design and implementation of the 2025 Jordan Labour Market Panel Survey (JLMPS), including the first integration of a Time Use Survey module to measure unpaid care and domestic work and its links to women’s employment. UN Women supported the Economic Reform Forum (ERF) and its fellows in the production and dissemination of seven peer-reviewed policy papers on priority issues, thus developing actionable knowledge products, and aligning reforms with international standards and national commitments including international indices like, World Bank Women’s Business and the Law. UN Women also supported NCFA in developing the National Childcare Policy, with a draft completed during the reporting period and finalization expected in the first quarter of 2026. Private sector transformation and progress monitoring outcomes. UN Women leveraged the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) as a flagship mechanism to promote measurable changes in workplace systems and employment outcomes. In 2025, UN Women Jordan Country Office maintained its position as the leading country in the Arab States region in terms of Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) private-sector signatories, with 256 signatory companies, impacting 100,000 employees. UN Women monitoring data demonstrate that the WEPs positively impact women economic participation, with 58% of responding signatories reporting an increase in the number of women employees and an increase in the proportion of women employees from 41% in 2024 to 42% in 2025, equating to approximately 10,000 women, and 47% reporting the adoption, reform or use of tools and policies to enhance women’s recruitment and retention, two-thirds of whom attributed these policy reforms to their WEPs journey. Business models and financing for scale. UN Women strengthened pathways to scale working with Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, Cooperative Cooperation, Agriculture Credit Cooperation and other by translating national commitments into investment-ready, employment-generating business and financing models. Under SWEI, UN Women developed a private-sector engagement approach and positioned new financing partnerships, including the USD 30 million Harvesting Opportunities for Poverty Eradication (HOPE) programme approved by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) (in partnership with IFAD), where UN Women serves as the technical assistance lead supported by a USD 300,000 IsDB grant to leverage and scale gender-responsive job creation in agriculture and food systems. UN Women also advanced women’s economic engagement in floricutlure through the India, Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation (IBSA) Fund grant for the Tafileh floriculture value chain in partnership with Ministry of Agriculture and continued to mobilize additional co-financing with development finance institutions, donors, and private investors. UN Women continued to implement the Dare to Care (DtC) Regional Project to transform patriarchal masculinities and social norms to advance women's economic empowerment (WEE) through tailored normative-changing interventions at the individual, community, institutional and policy levels. UN Women launched a youth-led campaign, equipping 66 youth leaders to deliver sessions for their peers using a gender-transformative toolkit. Preliminary findings from a midline assessment of 78 families from a targeted community demonstrates a measurable shift toward gender-equitable caregiving, with a 25-minute reduction in the gender gap in unpaid care work time—moving toward the programme’s target of a 60-minute reduction by September 2026. UN Women also collaborated with universities, signing Memoranda of Understanding to conduct gender reviews and design elective course curricula on equitable parenting, scheduled for rollout in five universities 2026. Finally, at the policy level, UN Women worked closely with the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) to develop a national Childcare Policy, which will be adopted in 2026.

Enhanced inclusive, gender-responsive and green growth in Jordan that provides access to entrepreneurship and decent work opportunities, life-long learning, and market-relevant skills with a focus on LNOB

The government of Jordan introduced two bylaws to support women's economic empowerment, access to decent work opportunities, and improved recruitment and retention. These bylaws include provisions for flexible work arrangements and to support pregnant and nursing women. Further, the Ministry of Labour contributed to the implementation of the Economic Modernization Vision through the development a Ministerial Policy for Gender Mainstreaming, Executive Plan, and the monitoring framework. UN Women supported this drafting through technical assistance to the Ministry of Labor and the deployment of a gender mainstreaming expert who coordinated with relevant departments within the Ministry and supported the development of the strategy and its executive plan. Furthermore, the national women’s machineries developed a national tool to assess gender responsiveness within the private sector in Jordan. The seal, which fully integrates the WEPs, is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2025 and will be accompanied by a number of incentives, including some linked to public procurement, and will be a key national tool to accelerate private sector engagement supporting women’s labor force participation. UN Women deployed technical expertise to support the developement of this tool and to map the potential incentivies associated with it. Women increased their access to employment as the private sector in Jordan implemented policies to enhance gender equality and women’s empowerment, utilizing the WEPs. Among WEPs signatories in Jordan, 65% reported an increase in female workforce, with a 3 percentage points increase in the number of women employees, and 9 percentage points increase in women representation in boards compared to the previous year. To achieve this, 97% of WEPs adopted and implemented policies to enhance gender equality and women’s empowerment within their companies. In 2024, 20 additional private sector companies signed up to the WEPs, for a total of 188 signatories. Now, the implementation of WEP policies improve the lives of 90,000 employees in Jordan. This aligns with national priorities in Jordan aiming to surge women’s employment and enhance their economic empowerment. UN Women supported the achievement of these results through the provision of capacity building, specialized advisory services on gender responsive policies and the coordination of the national network of WEPs, creating a space for learning and exchange.