Jordan’s Accession to WTO: A Socio- Economic Challenges for Women in the Tourism Sector
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Abstract
The present study explores the implications of WTO membership for women working in tourism sector in Jordan due to accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2000 in terms of challenges that WTO membership present to women's family status, training opportunities, social security, and standing in social and political spheres, and how will WTO affect women's employment, incomes, and participation in decision-making. Accordingly, how can government decision-makers best address these issues? For the objective of the research four sub sectors selected: Hotels, Tourism Restaurants, Travel agencies, and Tourist Shops. The data collecting carries out in all Jordan’s governorates. These sites were selected to represent the situation for women in the center, north and south of Jordan. The study used quantitative approach. Quantitative techniques used in the analysis of questionnaires and other secondary data. In addition, meetings have been held with representatives of local authorities and mass organizations, both at the commune as well as provincial level. These meetings assisted the researcher glean an overview of the situation for women, their issues and needs from the perspective of service providers. The study examines the two periods: before acceding to the WTO 1995 – 2000 and after acceding to the WTO 2000 – 2005. The researcher tested the hypotheses of the study, to examine the impacts among the variables of current study by using paired samples statistics and one – sample T-test of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, (SPSS). The results show that although there is no improvement on creating job opportunities and job positioning for women working in the tourism sector after Jordan's accession to the WTO, accession to the WTO has improved the average income, training aspects, and family decision making for women working in the tourism sector. Finally, the researcher recommended some recommendations that help women proactively address the challenges brought on by WTO membership.
Keywords
Jordan, Socio- Economic Challenges, WTO, Women, Tourism Sector
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