Jordanian Businesswomen Tackle Gender Barriers

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 006529

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G/IWI, EB, DRL
STATE ALSO FOR NEA/PI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SOCI KWMN ECON EFIN JO
SUBJECT: Jordanian Businesswomen Tackle Gender Barriers



1. SUMMARY: Over the past decade, women's ability to
succeed in Jordan's private sector has improved. Although
financial and social barriers are still present, the
establishment of business and gender-focused organizations
combined with a general optimism suggest that many Jordanian
businesswomen believe they can overcome gender barriers.
However, it remains the case that only women with
exceptionally supportive families have a chance to succeed
in business here.
END SUMMARY.


2. Jordanian businesswomen come from all socio-economic
classes and are most commonly found in the industry sectors
producing jewelry, garments, cosmetics, food, and
handicrafts. Prominent women succeed in other sectors as
well; examples include Randa Ayoubi, the founder and CEO of
the IT company Rubicon; Luna Madi, founder of the Jordan
division of the regional PR company Headlines; and Khawla Al
Sheikh Hourani, a licensed plumber and successful agent for
water saving devices (WSD). Women operate nearly two-thirds
of all informal businesses - businesses operated out of the
home - in Jordan.


3. As of May 2005, only 11.8% of women in Jordan are
economically active compared to 64% of men. Of these
numbers, 19.7% of economically active women are unemployed,
whereas 12.3% of economically active men are unemployed. Of
married women, only 9.8% are economically active with a 1.2%
unemployment rate, compared to non-married women, where
15.7% are economically active with a 4.2% unemployment rate.

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WOMEN HINDERED BY LACK OF CAPITAL, COLLATERAL
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4. One of the chief hurdles for women on the path to
entrepreneurship is financing. While difficulty obtaining
loans is a problem facing both genders in Jordan, it tends
to affect women to a greater degree because they are, at the
outset, less wealthy than men. According to a Jordan Forum
for Business and Professional Women (JFBPW) study of local
Jordanian banks (not including Standard Chartered Bank),
women own only 10% of all the money saved in bank accounts.
Jordan's inheritance law, which follows traditional Sunni
sharia law, also contributes to this unequal distribution of
wealth, as the legal minimum that women must inherit from
their fathers' estates is smaller than their brothers'
shares. (If a father makes out a will, he is free to leave
a daughter an equal share, but this is not usually the
case). Moreover, families reportedly often pressure women
to give their share of an estate to a brother in return for
his care and support. With fewer options for capital and
collateral, women's chances of obtaining loans from
commercial banks are reduced.


5. Yet there are a number of opportunities for women to
overcome these financial barriers. Microfund for Women
(MFW),formerly supported by USAID's AMIR (Achievement of
Market-Friendly Initiatives and Results) program, was
established to help finance women who had small informal
businesses and whose lack of collateral or credit history
prevented them from obtaining loans. As of December 2004,
MFW had disbursed 120,602 loans to 40,753 Jordanians (98.07%
of them women),many of whom were repeat borrowers with
successful repayment histories. Jordanian businesswomen
benefit from other microfinance institutions in Jordan:
Jordan Micro Credit company (JMCC),Middle East Micro Credit
Company (MEMCC),and Ahli Micro Credit Company (AMC). As of
June 2005, women-owned businesses received 80.07% of all
microfinance loans distributed by MFW, JMCC, MEMCC, and AMC.
In addition, women made up 93.56% of repeat clients.


6. Another opportunity is available through business
incubator programs, such as those sponsored by JFBPW, which
provide new entrepreneurs with an office and the basic
supplies to begin a business. However, JFBPW currently can
support only 14 women at a time in its incubators, although
it plans to expand. AID supports a program called "Women's
Access to Entrepreneurship Development and Training"
(WAEDAT),which aims to help women obtain loans by providing
connections, assistance, and advice on how to apply.

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PERCEIVED SOCIAL BARRIERS
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7. Women in Jordan frequently refer to the presence of
social barriers and stigmas against women in the business
world. One such perceived barrier is that Jordan's chiefly
a traditional patriarchal society in which males are the
dominant gender and the disproportionate holders of power.
As explained by Randa Qubti, founder of the Bawabet Al Sharq
for Handicrafts business, this negatively affects women in
the market-place when such "patriarchal values" favor men
over women simply because they are men. Another perceived
barrier is the widespread prejudice that women are, by
nature, too emotional to run a business and earn a profit.
According to WAEDAT program coordinator Wejdan Abu Lail, the
fear is that if a woman is too emotional she will sympathize
with her clients and run her business like a charity
operation instead of a profit-making enterprise. There also
seemed to be a general agreement that a glass ceiling exists
in Jordanian corporations, where it is unusual to find women
in senior positions.


8. However, some businesswomen told Embassy intern that
they personally have not experienced any barriers as women
competing in the Jordanian business sector. Randa Ayoubi of
IT Rubicon believes the barriers she faced were due to the
general unawareness of the IT field in the 1990s, and not
due to her gender. Two foreign businesswomen who operate
garment factories in the Al-Tajamouat Industrial estate, one
a naturalized Jordanian citizen and the other a Turkish
citizen, also claimed they face no gender barriers in
Jordanian business. Most of these women did acknowledge,
however, that they were lucky to have modern families that
supported their business endeavors. Many women also tell us
that social barriers are erected by women themselves, and
can be overcome with motivation and self-confidence.


9. Working to overcome these barriers are many
organizations that offer business development, skills
training, networking, mentoring, and education programs to
increase women's competitiveness, thereby reducing the
impact of social barriers. For example, Jordan-US Business
Partnership (JUSBP),soon to be known as the Business
Development Center (BDC),organized a national volunteer
council that provides mentors for new entrepreneurs and
launched a series of seminars and conferences aimed at
increasing the competitiveness of women-owned businesses in
Jordan. WAEDAT provides each client with core business
skills, advisor visits and follow-up, sub and cross-sector
training opportunities, mentorship in cooperation with the
Young Entrepreneurs Association (YEA),and networking events
that enhance the business development. In addition to the
incubator projects, JFBPW offers technical assistance, legal
awareness programs, and political advocacy for women's
increased involvement in decision-making activities. Other
organizations working to improve women's involvement in
Jordanian business include INJAZ, an organization focusing
on youth entrepreneurship and economic activity; the Royal
Society for the Conservation of Nature, which creates jobs
for women who live in Jordan's nature reserves; and the
Jordan River Foundation through its Community Empowerment
Program (CEP).


10. These organizations have proved to be successful over
the past several years in their efforts to improve women's
business involvement. JUSBP, a non-gender specific
organization, intends to increase its focus on women-owned
businesses once it becomes the Jordan-focused BDC. Since
its establishment in 1976, JFBPW has expanded from a legal
awareness group to include an information and communication
center, the woman's enterprise center which houses the
incubation project, and will soon open the first brokerage
firm run by women for women in the Middle East on September

1. It will cater to businesswomen and 20% of the profits
will go towards expansion of JFBPW. JFBPW also recently
received a grant from USAID's AMIR program to expand its
research and information analysis programs. WAEDAT, a much
younger organization, has also shown signs of success since
its establishment in 2004. With the assistance of WAEDAT
training packages, participants have achieved a 25% overall
increase in sales and a 10% increase in employment. WAEDAT
plans to assist at least 270 women by mid-2006 and expand
its programs to reach women more widely in Jordan, including
Aqaba in the south, and Ajloun and Balqa in the northwest.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF FAMILY SUPPORT
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11. The presence of family support is a significant factor
in a businesswoman's successful business venture. In fact,
one of the characteristics of the WAEDAT target group is
that she has her family's support, meaning they encourage
her and "accept the idea of her starting a business."
Program director Wijdan Abu Leil told Embassy intern that
there is little WAEDAT can do if the family does not support
a woman's business endeavors.


12. Few businesswomen specifically mentioned the importance
of family support to women's success generally, but the
majority referred to it as playing an important role in
their success personally. Wijdan Talhouni Saket, President
of JFBPW, businesswoman, and senator in the upper house of
Jordan's parliament, said her father was very supportive,
treated her equally with her brothers, and gave her more
than her sharia-mandated share of inheritance. Her husband
is also very supportive and encouraged her to take over the
family business and assist JFBPW. Hala Ayoubi, founder and
owner of Jordan International Tourism, was encouraged by her
father to start her own business; he also gave her the start-
up capital.


13. Many women referred to the family support system as a
means for childcare. Since daycare centers are rare in
Jordan, mothers often depend on family members to watch
their children while at work. Without this presence, it is
difficult for mothers to enter or remain in the business
world.


14. Family support for women's business involvement also
emerges out of a necessity for income to put bread on the
family table. Many women funded by MFW were forced into
business by the loss or illness of their husbands or
fathers, who were their households' sole earners. For
example, Nariman Hefawi utilized MFW loans to expand the
construction supply and leasing operation that she took over
after her husband became seriously ill. Another woman, a
refugee in the Ein al Basha camp, was forced to work as a
secretary after her husband passed away. Because her salary

SIPDIS
was inadequate, she applied for a loan from MFW to help
launch a home business selling baked goods to neighbors and
restaurants. She was soon successfully supplying 14 food
outlets and running a small poultry shop.

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COMMENT
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15. Some women do succeed in business here. Organizations
such as WAEDAT, JFBPW, JUSBP, and MFW are available to
assist women in their business development, financing, and
skills training so that they can compete despite the social
barriers that may be against them. However, there is no
organization that can provide family support or approval, a
factor that plays an important role in a businesswoman's
success. Moreover, Jordan's legal, political, and economic
structures, each with a seemingly institutionalized
patriarchal system, may present barriers that are too large
for a small group of businesswomen and organizations to
easily overcome. END COMMENT.

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