The Center for Women's Studies at the University of Jordan (UJ), on Sunday, October 23, held its first international conference on "Feminist Movement: History and Discourse", with the participation of experts and researchers in women's issues from several Arab and foreign countries.
 
The aim of the conference, which was patronized by HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal, is to exchange knowledge in the field of women, gender and development studies, and shed light on the feminist movement in the Arab world, and Jordan in particular.
 
In her opening address, HRH Princess Basma emphasized the importance of economic and political empowerment of women as a focal topic in the work of women's organizations and researchers, urging to take advantage of the long experience of international feminist movements, and the development of Arab feminist discourse, as well as incorporating feminist discourse within the overall dominant discourse.
 
Princess Basma also pointed to the situation in the region which has contributed to subjecting women to negative practices, pointing out in this context, to the foundations of feminist discourse and movements.
 
The conference, which was organized with the support of USAID Takamol Gender Program and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), aimed to trace the history feminist movement at the legislative and political level, and to promote academic partnership and intellectual exchange between involved academic institutions worldwide.
 
UJ president Prof. Azmi Mahafzah, in his address, pointed out that women's movement in Jordan has made many successes, thanks to the Hashemite leadership's support, referring to HRH Princess Basma's continued support for Jordanian women and women empowerment efforts in various fields.
 
USAID Takamol Gender Program Chief of Party, Nermin Murad, confirmed that feminist movement aim is to achieve equality of citizenship with men, adding that the development of women and entitling them to their rights is a fundamental pillar in the development of nations and societies.
 
Director of UJ Center for Women's Studies, Dr. Abeer Dababneh, said the conference is meant to address three themes related to the beginning of the feminist movement as a movement for social change, challenges to feminist movements, the evolution of feminism agenda, feminist movements between religion and legislation, the concept of development and the relation between resources feminist agendas, and setting priorities with respect to women and human rights.
 
At the opening session, Swedish Ambassador to Jordan, Erik Ullenhag, presented a paper on feminism in Sweden and his country's policy in this regard.