Legal obligation to provide childcare in Jordan has not translated to reality, yet
If the law mandated companies to provide day care, fathers and mothers might find it easier to bridge gaps in their childcare arrangements or to worry about regular care at all. An example from the Middle East shows that legal regulations are not enough and what grass root efforts can contribute to make it happen (soon).
Article No. 72 in Jordanian Labour Law specifies that “an employer who employs at least twenty married women shall provide a suitable place under the custody of a baby sitter qualified for looking after the children of the working women whose ages are less than four years old provided the number of the same shall not be less than ten children”. Not only puts the law a peculiar focus on working women (as opposed to parents), many sources also suggest that in reality almost none of the companies complies with the law, and that a lot of women don’t know about the existing regulation and hence their rights.
A group of committed women called ‘Vital Voices Policy Advocates’ has therefore started to fight for better compliance with Article 72. As many of their members are working mums, they are convinced that once implemented, the day care centres would help women retain their jobs, increase their participation in employment and thus the business world in general. In order to pursue their goal, ‘Vital Voices’ started a campaign called SADAQA (which can be translated as ‘donation’) aiming for a better working environment for women in Jordan. As one key element of their movement, they started a broad media campaign using twitter and facebook as well as appearances on the radio and national TV. As a first milestone, they were given the opportunity to start collaborating with different policy organisations including the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Social Development and the National Council for Family Affairs. One mission of the new task force aims to establish new flexible day care guidelines.
Amongst others, the campaign has contributed to the creation of a day care centre at the International School of Amman. According to their principle, the initiative lifts a huge burden off the employed mothers and fundraising was started to even launch more centres.
In the spring of this year, ‘Vital Voices’ plans on creating videos demonstrating success stories of companies which have followed their call.
