Special Economic Zones in the OIC Region:
Learning from Experience
15
Box 3 - Jordanian SEZs and Employment Opportunities for Wome
2.6.4 Wider Economic Reform and Experimentation
Globally, SEZs have been implemented as a tool to develop and diversify exports as they reduce
anti-export bias whilst keeping protective barriers intact. SEZs can assist in wider economic
policy reform by allowing countries to experiment with more liberal economic legislation,
regulations and policies for their economies. This includes providing incubators for new policy
in countries where reform is contentious, allowing countries to build the political capital
necessary for the implementation of nation-wide economic policy reform.
China’s SEZs are a particularly good example of where SEZs have been used to introduce and
test FDI, legal, land, labour and pricing policies before extending them to the rest of the country.
There are a number of examples where SEZs have been used to promote employment
opportunities for women, particularly within developing countries. It is observed that SEZs
can often provide the first entry into formal sector employment for women within some
developing countries and, as such, are seen as increasingly important drivers of economic
empowerment for women, as well as increasing zone and enterprise competitiveness.
Jordanian SEZs are one such example of zone development which has focused on increasing
women’s access to employment opportunities. It is estimated that within the country’s six
SEZs, approximately 55% of the workforce are women. The government has incorporated a
number of initiatives such as meals and transportation for rural women working within the
economic zones, as well as outreach programmes targeting rural women, in explaining how
the zone programmes work and the potential benefits and opportunities available.
It has been observed that of the Jordanian women employed within the economic zones,
approximately 70% had no previous work experience, indicating the significant opportunity
of the zone programmes as entry points for women to engage with the formal employment
sector. This participation has been enabled by initiatives such as the ‘Satellite Factory
Programme’ which targets rural women and provides them with access to employment
opportunities in proximity to their villages and skills training to enable them to succeed. This
has helped to increase the number of domestic women employed within the economic zones
and address key barriers to entry for women such as limited work experience and low
mobility.