Women on Boards JO
Where We Came From
In May 2018 a group of professional women sharing a vision towards increased female representation in boardrooms and in decision making positions came together to establish Women on Boards Jordan, a non-profit association that aims to promote women’s access to leadership posts in public and private sector enterprises across various sectors.
WOBs JO was enthused by validated research suggesting that a more gender balanced board of directors ensures more balanced decisions and consequently improves performance, enhances economic growth and brings prosperity to society.
Our Vision
Increase the number of Jordanian women on boards
Our Mission
Support and motivate Jordanian women in reaching to boards of directors
Our Values
Accept Diversity, Integrity Justice and Commitment
Women In
JordanStatistics & Facts (2017 - 2020)
Education
Women’s education in Jordan ranks among the highest of all countries in the MENA region.
Females make up to 51.6% in Jordanian universities compared with 48.4% of males.
The Literacy rate of women in Jordan aged 15 years and above is 93.2%.
Workforce
Despite the high number of female university graduates, female workforce participation is low.
The economic participation rate for women is 13.2%.
The rate of women's participation in the labor market in Jordan is 14.1% compared to 64.0% for men.
The percentage of non-working women in Jordan is 28.7%.
Around 77% of unemployed women in Jordan have bachelor’s degree or higher.
Professional
The introduction of the Flexible Hours Regulation March 2017 is one of the recent steps that Jordan has taken for promoting female job creation.
25% of the teaching staff at the Jordanian Public Universities is female.
Women occupy 21% of top-level management positions in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
Women constitute 23.7% of the number of lawyers in Jordan.
Women employees in the Jordanian banking sector is around 35%.
Women account for about 50% of the health workforce, yet they are underrepresented in top management roles.
Almost half of the public sector employees are women.
International Ranking
Jordan Is Ranked.
129 out of 149 countries in the field of women's political empowerment according to the 2018 Global Gender Gap Index.
102 out of 189 countries in the world in the Human Development Index according to a report issued by the United Nations Development Program.
102 out of 189 countries in the world in the Human Development Index according to a report issued by the United Nations Development Program.
Decision-Making Positions
Significant number of qualified Jordanian women has not taken their chance yet.
The percentage of women occupying seats in the boards of industrial chambers is 8% and 5% in the board of chambers of commerce.
Women made up to 6.4% of the Board of Trustees of the official universities.
8.0% is the percentage of women occupying seats in the boards of industrial chambers & 5.0% in the boards of chambers of commerce.
The percentage of women in public sector is 7%.
Women on Boards of Listed Companies
Women on Boards of Listed Companies Women’s Participation on Boards of Directors of the Listed Companies, Amman Stock Exchange (ASE).
February 2020 - Spotlight.
Women comprise 5.5% of board members in the 190 listed companies across all sectors.
Companies in the sectors of Health Services and Educational Services tend to have the highest percentage of female board members 12.5% in each.
The share of women on boards in the banking sector is 9.2%.
The percentage of women as boards members in the sectors of Extraction & Mining Industries, Diverse Financial Services and Technology and Communication sectors is 7.7%.
Five out of the 20 sectors have “zero” women’s presence on its boards of directors.
Political Life
Jordanian women have gained the right to run and vote in the House of Representatives since the year (1974).
Legislated quotas were introduced at the national level (2003) and municipal level (2007).
The proportion of female candidates increases with each election and women comprise a greater share of registered voters than men (54% vs. 46%).
Women make up to 15.4% of both houses of parliament, 28.8% of municipal and governorate council seats and 7.1 % of ministerial positions.
One out of every five members of the diplomatic and judicial corps is a female, with rates (20.1% and 18.9%) respectively.
One out of every three members of political parties is also a female.
The female ambassadors accounted for an average of 11% of the total ambassadors.
Women In Corporate Leadership In The Arab Region
