The Changing Roles of young single women in Jordan before the Great Recession. An Explanation Using Economic Theory

  1. JOSÉ IGNACIO CONDE-RUIZ 1
  2. EDUARDO L. GIMÉNEZ 2
  1. 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR 02p0gd045

  2. 2 Universidade de Vigo
    info

    Universidade de Vigo

    Vigo, España

    ROR https://ror.org/05rdf8595

Revista:
Documentos de trabajo ( FEDEA )

ISSN: 1696-7496

Año de publicación: 2022

Número: 3

Páginas: 1-47

Tipo: Documento de Trabajo

DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Documentos de trabajo ( FEDEA )

Resumen

Before the Great Recession, young single women in Jordan, like those in other Middle Eastern and North African countries with a strong Islamic cultural tradition, experienced important changes in social roles. In this paper, we claim that economic theory may help to understand some of these changing patterns. It is argued that liberalization in the Jordanian economy resulted in important changes in the Jordanian social contract regarding gender roles, school enrollment, labor participation, marriage, and fertility. In particular, three apparently disconnected contemporaneous developments may be interrelated: the increase in women’s marriage age, the growth of young single women’s participation in the labor market, and the increase in the young male unemployment rate. This process stopped in the late 2000s, both due to exogenous (the Great Recession after 2008 and the Syrian civil war in 2011) and endogenous (existing attitudes towards working women) reasons. We argue that economic conditions may play a role as the driving forces for social transformation, and opens a window for women’s opportunities and empowerness.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Ajaka, Nadine (2014) Waiting longer to marry in Jordan,” AlJazeera, May 2nd, https: //www.aljazeera.com/news/2014/5/2/waiting-longer-to-marry-in-jordan
  • Al-Kahldi, Mwafaq Dandan (2006) “Educational Attainment of Jordan’s Population and Labor Force,” Journal of Social Sciences vol.2 (1): pp.1-6
  • Al Khatib, Maram (2020) “Facilitating female employment in Jordan,” YEM Blogs and Thinkpieces https://unevoc.unesco.org/yem/Female+unemployment+in+ Jordan+YEM+Blog&context=
  • Alon, Titan, Matthias Doepke, Jane Olmstead-Rumsey, and Mich`ele Tertilt (2020a) “The Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality”, Covid Economics: Vetted and Real- Time Papers 4, pp.62-85.
  • Alon, Titan, Matthias Doepke, Jane Olmstead-Rumsey, and Mich`ele Tertilt (2020b), “This Time It’s Different: The Role of Women’s Employment in a Pandemic Reces- sion”, CEPR Discussion Paper num.15149.
  • Becker, Gary Stanly (1961) “An Economic Analysis of Fertility”, in NBER, Demo- graphic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, Princenton: Princenton Uni- versity Press.
  • Becker, Gary Stanly and Kevin Murphy (1988) “The Family and the State”, Journal of Law and Economics, 31 pp. 1-18.
  • Boldrin, Michele, and Ana Montes (2005) “The Intergenerational State Education and Pensions,” The Review of Economic Studies 72(3), 651-664.
  • Boustati, Alma (2020) “The Evolution of Female Labour Force Participation in Jor- dan,” SOAS Department of Economics Working Paper num.236, London: SOAS Uni- versity of London.
  • Chesnais, Jean-Claude (1992) The Demographic Transition. Stages, Patterns and Eco- nomic Implications. Clarendon Press Oxford, New York.
  • Cigno, Alessandro (1992) “Children and Pensions.” Journal of Population Economics 5, 175-83.
  • Conde-Ruiz, J.I., Eduardo L. Gim´enez and Mikel P´erez-Nievas (2010) “Millian Effi- ciency with Endogenous Fertility,” The Review of Economic Studies, Vol.77 (1), pp.154- 187.
  • Courbage, Youssef (1999) “Economic and Political Issues of Fertility Transition in the Arab World: Answers and Open Questions,” Population and Environment 20, no. 4, pp.353-80.
  • Department of Statistics (1998) Employment and Unemployment Survey 1998. Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
  • Department of Statistics (1999) Men and Women in Jordan: A Statistical Portrait. Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
  • Department of Statistics (2022a) Table 2. National Disposable Income and its Appro- priations at Current Prices, 1976-2009 Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. http://www. dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/economic/nat_account/sel2/nat_1/curr_2.pdf
  • Department of Statistics (2022b) Table 10: Gross Domestic Product by In- come Approach at Current Prices, 2008-2016, Hashemite Kingdom of Jor- dan. https://jorinfo.dos.gov.jo/Databank/pxweb/en/NationalAccount/ NationalAccount__Yearly__Isic4/Table10.px/table/tableViewLayout2/
  • Department of Statistics (2022c) Employment and Unemployment, Yearly (Percent- age), Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/ linked-html/Emp&Un.htm
  • Department of Statistics (2022d) Number of Jordanian Age 15+ Years by Some of Char- acteristics Selected 2017 - 2021, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. https://jorinfo. dos.gov.jo/Databank/pxweb/en/DOS_Database/START__12/EMPALL/
  • Inglehart, R., C. Haerpfer, A. Moreno, C. Welzel, K. Kizilova, J. Diez-Medrano, M. Lagos, P. Norris, E. Ponarin and B. Puranen (eds.) (2022) World Values Survey: All Rounds - Country-Pooled Datafile. Madrid (Spain) and Vienna (Austria): JD Systems Institute & WVSA Secretariat. Dataset Version 3.0.0.
  • Kardoosh, Marwan A. (2019) Trade Liberalization in Jordan and Economic Diplomacy A Story of Qualified Success, Foundation Office Jordan, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V., September
  • Kasoolu, Semiray, Ricardo Hausmann, Tim O’Brien, and Miguel Angel Santos (2019) “Female Labor in Jordan: A Systematic Approach to the Exclusion Puzzle,” Center for International Development Faculty, Working Papers num.365, Harvard University.
  • Kawar, Mary (1997)“Gender, Employment and the Life Course: The Case of Working Daughters in Amman, Jordan” Ph.D Thesis Development Studies. London School of Economics.
  • Kawar, Mary (2001) “Women’s Changing Life Cycles, Expanding Economic Opportu- nities and the Social Contract in Jordan”, paper presented at the Second Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting. Florence, March 2001.
  • Miles, Rebecca (2002) “Employment and Unemployment in Jordan: The Importance of the Gender System,” World Development, vol.30 (3), pp.413-427.
  • Nugent, J.B. (1985) “The Old-Age Security Motive for Fertility” Population and De- velopment Review, 11. No 1 (March), pp. 75-97.
  • Olmsted, Jennifer (2001) “Gendered Social Safety Nets in a Period of Demographic Transition: A Focus on the MENA Region”, paper presented at the Second Mediter- ranean Social and Political Research Meeting. Florence, March 2001.
  • Omar, Manal (2001) “The Marriage Mystery: Exploring Late Married in MENA”, Al-Raida, Vol.XVIII-XIX, No.93-94, pp.12-19.
  • Roudi, Farzaneh (Nazy) (2001) “Fertility Policies in the Middle East and North Africa”, paper presented at the Second Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting. Florence, March 2001.
  • Salem, Rania (2014) “Trends and Differentials in Jordanian Marriage Behavior: Mar- riage Timing, Spousal Characteristics, Household Structure and Matrimonial Expen-ditures,” in Ragui Assaad (ed.) The Jordanian Labour Market in the New Millennium, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 189-217.
  • Shakhatreh, Hussein (1995) “Determinant of Female Labor-Force in Jordan”, in Nabil F. Khoury and Valentine M. Moghadam (eds.) Gender and Development in the Arab World - Women’s Economic Participation. London: Zed Books Ltd, pp.125-147.
  • Sieverding, Maia, Nasma Berri and Sawsan Abdulrahim (2019) “Marriage and Fertility Patterns among Jordanians and Syrian Refugees in Jordan,” in Caroline Krafft and Ragui Assaad (eds.) The Jordanian Labor Market: Between Fragility and Resilience, Oxford Scholarship Online, chap.10.
  • Singerman, Diane (2007) “The Economic Imperatives of Marriage: Emerging Practices and Identities among Youth in the Middle East,” Middle East Youth Initiative Working Paper, No. 6. Wolfensohn Center for Development and Dubai School of Government. Spies, O. (1991) “Mahr,” in C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, B. Lewis and Ch. Pellat (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), Vol.6, E.J. Brill, Leiden, pp. 78–79.
  • Stark, Oded (1984) “Bargaining, Altruism, and Demographic Phenomena”, Population and Development Review 10, n. 4, pp.679-692.
  • Tubbeh, Taghrid Khuri (1994) The Determinants of Women’s Work: A Case Study from Three Urban Low-income Commmunities in Aman, Jordan, Ph.D. dissertation, Portland State University.
  • United Nations (2019) World Marriage Data, Department of Economic and So- cial Affairs, Population Division. https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/data/ world-marriage-data
  • Veblen, Thorsten (1929) The Theory of the Leisure Class.
  • Wolf, Diane (1990) “Daughters, Decisions and Domination: An Empirical and Con- ceptual Critique of Households Strategies”, Development and Change 21, pp.34-74.
  • World Bank (2022a) “Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (national estimate),” World Bank database. https://data.worldbank. org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.NE.ZS
  • World Bank (2022b) “Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (modeled ILO estimate),”World Bank database. https://data.worldbank. org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS
  • World Bank (2022c) “Fertility rate, total (births per woman),” World Bank database. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?locations=JO
  • World Bank (2022d) “Jordan,” World Bank database. https://data.worldbank.org/ country/JO
  • World Economic Forum (2021) Global Gender Gap Report 2021. Insight Report, Geneva. March 2021.
  • Yousef, Tarik M. (2001) “Demography, Inequality and Intergenerational Generations in the Middle East and North Africa”, paper presented at the Second Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting. Florence, March 2001.
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet