Women agricultural workers in Jordan: We work 11 hours a day without health insurance
Women agricultural workers in Jordan demand better working conditions, indicating that they are paid less than men and work 11 hours a day.
Amman- In Jordan, women agricultural workers are paid less than men and work 11 hours a day. Some are subjected to sexual harassment and assault due to unsafe work environment. They demand better working conditions. Dhabia Al-Ghazzawi, an agricultural worker and the head of the Al-Shamaa Charitable Association for Family Care in the northern Jordan Valley, said that the people living in the region are mostly poor people and rely on agriculture.
“Women agricultural workers face many challenges. In summer, they suffer from sunburns especially in summer because they have to work for hours. They do not have any protective equipment. They do not have a safe work environment,” she told NuJINHA.
‘Women are subjected to sexual harassment’
Pointing out that many women agricultural workers are subjected to sexual harassment and assault by men, Dhabia Al-Ghazzawi said, “Girls under the age of 15 also work in agriculture. They mostly remain silent when they are subjected to sexual harassment and assault because they think people will not believe in them or they parents will not allow them to work anymore. They do not report the sexual assault against them because they are scared.”
Al-Shamaa Charitable Association for Family Care is a member of the Specific Union for Farmer Women in Jordan. The aim of the association is to solve the problems faced by women agricultural workers.
‘Women are paid less than men’
“Women agricultural workers are paid less than men agricultural workers although they work more than men,” Nisreen Al-Ghazzawi, an agricultural worker, said, “We can only buy bread and some necessities with the wage we receive. We have to spend our wage on the same day although we work 11 hours a day.”
‘We have no health and social insurance’
Another female agricultural worker, Hanan Tweisat said that agricultural workers in Jordan have no health and social insurance. “We have to work despite the bad working conditions. We work from 5 am to 4 pm every day. We work 11 hours a day. Working in agriculture is more difficult in summer.”