Amman, Aug. 12 (Petra) -- Jordan has advanced efforts to improve its standing on key international benchmarks, recording higher scores in the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law report while moving ahead with measures targeting its ranking on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index.
The progress was outlined in the first-half report of the Economic Modernization Vision's 2026-2029 Executive Program, which tracks action plans designed to strengthen Jordan's performance across international indicators.
According to the report, an assessment of the 2026 Women, Business and the Law findings showed Jordan's score reaching 52.5 in the legal frameworks pillar and 68.55 in supportive frameworks.
Jordan was also placed among the world's six leading reformers over the report's reference period, which ran from October 2023 through October 2025.
As part of preparations for the revised assessment framework, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation participated in a World Bank workshop on May 19-20 addressing the new methodology for the Women, Business and the Law report.
The methodology, updated in 2025 and reflected in the 2026 report, broadens the assessment beyond legislation to examine the environment supporting implementation and the extent to which laws are enforced in practice.
It is structured around three pillars: legal frameworks, which measure the laws and regulations providing for equality; supportive frameworks, which assess the policies, programs, mechanisms and institutions needed to implement those laws; and expert assessments of law enforcement, which gauge their application and impact in practice.
A national team comprising 16 ministries and government institutions was trained on the revised methodology, including changes to the calculation of indicators and data collection requirements.
Following a review with the technical team, Jordan's short- and medium-term action plan was adjusted to align with the revised methodology, with the next phase set to place greater emphasis on supportive frameworks and implementation policies.
A proposed long-term plan was also reviewed to address remaining gaps in the legal frameworks pillar, particularly in the areas of safety, mobility and assets.
Work is proceeding in parallel on the action plan for the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index.
Following changes to the methodology and representative sample criteria of the World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey, the survey period was rescheduled to run from July 2 through Oct. 31.
Among the measures completed under the action plan was the Ministerial Committee for Women's Empowerment's approval of the Gender Equality Seal for the public and private sectors.
The voluntary national initiative draws on international standards of excellence adapted to the Jordanian context and was developed jointly by the Ministerial Committee for Women's Empowerment, the Jordanian National Commission for Women and the King Abdullah II Center for Excellence, through a participatory process involving government and non-government entities.
Developed under the women's empowerment strategy of the Economic Modernization Vision, the initiative seeks to encourage public- and private-sector institutions to create working environments that support women's participation by expanding employment opportunities and improving workforce retention.
Efforts have also focused on addressing data gaps. The Department of Statistics published partial data under the entrepreneurship component of the 2026-2029 medium-term operational plan.
To improve measurement of women's participation in business ownership and management, the methodology of the 2018 Economic Establishments Census was expanded to include, for the first time, a question identifying the gender of an establishment's owner or manager, providing more detailed data on women's role in owning and leading businesses.
//Petra// RZ
