The Swedish-Jordanian photo exhibition and online photo challenge “Jordanian & Swedish Dads” highlight the value of sharing parenthood and domestic work to strengthen families – and grow the national economy. When fathers take more responsibility at home their lives are enriched, and mothers can spend more hours on paid work, as the Swedish example shows. The campaign calls on Jordanian men to share their pictures of fatherhood and be part of the discussion on how engaged fathers give mothers an easier entry to the labour market.

The Embassy of Sweden in Amman and local women’s rights organization SADAQA are co-organizing a photo exhibition called “Jordanian & Swedish Dads” at City Mall, Amman, between 20–27 February 2019. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Embassy and SADAQA have initiated an online photo challenge on Facebook. The competition encourages Jordanian fathers to share photos of themselves with their children under the hashtag #BabasinJO & #أبوي Five winners will receive gift vouchers from IKEA Jordan.

“Our project is about showing the benefits of more fathers spending time with their kids. The amazing thing when you are on paternal leave is that you can take part of your kids’ everyday lives and in that way, you can build a stronger relationship with your children. This is what creates stronger families and even stronger societies. It is the key to gender equality and crucial for economic growth and prosperity”

HE Erik Ullenhag, Swedish Ambassador to Jordan

“Through this endeavor we are hoping to redefine predetermined cultural roles of mothers and fathers in society,”Randa Naffa SAQADA’s founding member said. “Fathers have a right to embrace their role a parent. It was important for us to find a way to highlight this right work and show fathers in their active roles in the household.”

Naffa also explained the many advantages of families with supporting fathers sharing, “It is argued that 95 percent of all household responsibilities lie on the mother, even if she has a full time job. This creates a huge amount of stress and robs of her the opportunity to simply be a mom and take pleasure in spending time with her kids.”

Besides promoting fatherhood for stronger families, the initiative is timely, addressing the persistent economic and social challenges facing many Jordanians. Traditional gender roles, structural barriers such as access to childcare, and policy inequities continue to deprive the economy and political life in Jordan of women’s contributions. Married women drop out of the labor market at a rate of 34 percent, particularly after the birth of their second child. The ILO has estimated that if Jordanian women worked to the same extent as men, the annual GDP would increase with 21 percent.

SADAQA is a non-for-profit civil society organization established in 2011. In the course of its operation, SADAQA has mobilized a wide range of activists to advocate for a work-friendly environment in compliance with Article 72 of the Labour Law, as well as lower the structural barriers to entry for women into the workforce, including lack of daycares, public transportation, and pay inequity with the aim of increasing women’s economic participation in Jordan.

1. Facts – photo exhibition
Hosts: The Embassy of Sweden in Amman and Jordanian civil society organization SADAQA
What: Inauguration of the photo exhibition “Jordanian & Swedish Dads”
Where: at City Mall, Amman
When: 20 February 2019 at 20.00. The exhibition will be on public display for a week.

2. Facts – online photo competition
How: Jordanian fathers are encouraged to post pictures on the Swedish Embassy’s Facebook-page of themselves while taking care of their children under the hashtag #BabasinJO & #أبوي.
Prize: On 27 February at 16:00 the competition will close, and five winners will be announced. The winners will receive gift vouchers from IKEA worth up to 500 JOD.

Welcome to participate at the opening night of the exhibition – and encourage friends, colleagues, and family members to join the Facebook competition to be able to win the anticipated prizes.

For more information please contact:
Shirin Jamshir
Embassy of Sweden in Amman
[email protected]
+962 6 590 1471

Sahar Aloul
SADAQA
[email protected]