Reem Abu Hassan is a well-known lawyer and Jordanian minister whose extensive work on women rights, social justice, and lawmaking has made a tremendous impact nationally and internationally. Ms. Abu Hassan’s story began at the University of Jordan where she earned a L.L.B from UJ’s School of Law in 1985. A year later, Ms. Abu Hassan earned her L.L.M from the University of London’s School of Economics.
From 1987-88, Ms. Abu Hassan spent time working as a visiting researcher at Harvard’s Law School focusing her research on the Law of Evidence.
Forbes Magazine/ Middle East named Ms. Abu Hassan as the 12th most powerful woman in the Middle East for the year of 2014 and ranked her in the top 10 for the year of 2015.
At the time she received this honor, she was Minister of Social Development in Jordan from March 2013 until May 2016.
Internationally, Ms. Abu Hassan plays a pivotal role in the International Women’s Forum (IWF).
She was the founder and President of the IWF affiliate in Jordan from 2006-2008 and is today still an active member in the organization. Ms. Abu Hassan worked vigorously to expand and develop the work and influence of IWF across the Middle East. Thus, she played a crucial role in expanding and establishing IWF to other regions in the Middle East particularly Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon. For her great work at IWF and elsewhere, Ms. Abu Hassan was awarded the Leading Light Award in 2012.
In 2007, she was the Chair of IWF Amman Cornerstone Conference. She also served on the Board of Directors as both secretary and president for the International Leadership Foundation, a program that IWF established to train rising women leaders from around the world.
In Jordan, Ms. Abu Hassan has a remarkable array of accomplishments serving in key governmental positions and setting up several organizations that assist women, child and the public, such as the Arab Women’s Legal Network, Partner’s for Democratic Change, the Healthcare Accreditation Council, and MENA Friends of the Global Fund. Much of her work in Jordan centers on the protection of women and children in Jordanian society. She helped establish the Jordanian National Committee for Women, and she played a central role in the Legal Affairs Committee for the Family Protection Project. From 2006 to 2008, Ms. Abu Hassan served as an advisor to the Minister of Justice. At the same time, she was the founder of the Family Affairs and Human Rights Directorate at the Ministry of Justice. Moreover, Ms. Abu Hassan has worked on major organizations and committees in Jordan such as the First Reform Initiative (2002), the Legislation and Justice Subcommittee of the Jordanian National Agenda (2005), as well as the Jordan Together Reform Forum (2006). In May of 2011, Ms. Abu Hassan was selected to serve on the Board of Trustees for the National Centre for Human Rights in Jordan. She was also Secretary General of the National Council for Family Affairs. Because of Ms. Abu Hassan’s dedication to the protection and empowerment of women and children in Jordan, the Society for Protecting Family Violence Victims bestowed on Ms. Abu Hassan the distinction of Honorary President.
As for her publications, Ms. Abu Hassan coauthored with Lynn Welchman an article titled “Changing the Rules? Developments on ‘Crimes of Honour’ in Jordan,” which was first published by the University of London and then later in a collection of essays titled Honour: Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence Against Women (2015) by Zed Books. She is also an author of a report on women’s rights in Jordan which can be found in the book published by Freedom House Press titled, Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Citizenship and Justice (2005).