Every now and then the controversy arises about reasons why women aren’t empowered in our country. The long way that Jordanian women have come seems very short if constantly compared to that covered by western women. The heart of the matter is that women are expected and encouraged to contribute more to the building of the economy. Their contribution is measured by the percentage of women to aggregate workforce, the Gross Domestic Production from female workers, and employment among educated women. The empowerment of women is being juxtaposed to a more developed economy, and a more competitive country profile. But if we focus a home-made lens on the matter, we will see aspects of it that are hardly considered in the controversy.
For one thing, for a woman to be empowered she has to be in control of the way she lives her life. A lot of socio-governmental activities are going on now to enlighten women as to their law-given choices in life. But under our traditions and customs, some of these rights are being used against women rather than for them.
For example, a woman has a constitutional right to an education and work, through which she can acquire financial independence. But reality tells us that most women who work hand their wages at the end of every month either to a husband or a brother. They are deprived of the right to spend their own money. Is there a law against this abuse? No. The most that these women can do is object verbally, or ask for an allowance to be cut aside for her from her own pay. And because ours is a paternalistic society, she cannot live alone if a maiden, or sue her husband for making her share her income.
Everybody knows that a working girl has better chances of marriage than a non-working girl, even if both are equally educated. It is naturally assumed that a wife will give her income to her husband, or at least pay bills. Although in Islam, a woman has the right to keep her income to herself, and to spend it as she sees fit, because supporting the family is the man’s job. But economic hardships and the way that people’s mindset has changed over the past two decades, have took the shame out of a man accepting money from his wife.
Hence, the constitutional rights of education and work are not leading to women’s financial independence, but rather to their being exploited. Under such circumstances, if a woman reaches the top of an organizational ladder, would she be called powerful or empowered? If she has to ask her husband, or father, for an allowance to be cut from an income she makes herself, then how is she empowered at all?
On the other hand, the excessive pressure on educated women to take part in achieving economic development, as well as in supporting their families, is depriving them of God-given rights and duties. It is every woman’s right to have children, just as it is every mother’s duty to take care of her own and bring them up to become sound, healthy, and productive adults. Women are either not expected to be or not treated as “the gentle sex” anymore. An educated woman who defies the pressure and gives up her right to be a part of the work force, is looked down on. The term “housewife” has somehow become a form of degradation, even if the lady can prove education, talent, and intelligence. Even if she’s a member of several socially active clubs or groups, she’d still be look down on.
The fact that housewifery is not a choice anymore has little to do with a woman not achieving self-esteem, but rather with not achieving social status. That in itself is a problem. Moreover, because women are being pushed to their limits in the name of establishing gender-equality, and empowering the female workforce, women have ended up juggling through the triangle of motherhood,housekeeping,and full-time jobs, to the point where continuity becomes a hazard to their health. In female circles, a woman who defiantly opts for housewifery (if her household can afford it) is silently envied. Needless to say, the new Social Security bill that aims at prolonging the total duration of service under coverage for early retirement does not take the hazards of juggling a few more years into consideration!
Women have come a long way in Jordan, just as the social mindset on the matter of their empowerment has. But the feminist movements that call for enhancing the public and economic roles of women are ignoring the conflicts raised in the average woman’s life, between what is lawfully her right and the outcome of claiming those rights.
Star Monday 29 June, 2009
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