(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) Amman, Oct. 14 (Petra) -- In addition to daily hardships, rural women and girls in Jordan are in the grip of all forms of poverty, let alone disproportionate ownership of agricultural holdings compared with men, the Higher Population Council (HPC) said Thursday.
In a statement marking the International Day of Rural Women which falls on October 15th, the HPC said rural women own only 6 percent of all agricultural holdings across the Kingdom, while their participation in the agricultural sector stands at 5.6 percent, including informal employment.
HPC Secretary-General Abla Amawi said rural women need to be empowered economically and otherwise through targeted initiatives and interventions, stressing that training, agency and financial support will allow women to take their role in the overall national development drive.
Amawi cited grim figures about the Kingdom's rural-urban distribution of the population, saying that only 9.7 percent of the Kingdom's population live in rural areas while 90.3 percent live in urban areas. The figures reflect a 2015 census. Moreover, unemployment among rural women was relatively high at 29.4 percent.
She explained that Jordan is committed to supporting rural women based on its commitments to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Amawi stressed the importance of dealing with women as partners in the sustainable development process, not victims, noting that such partnership will lead to a rapid recovery in food production and accelerate efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger.
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