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

• JOSÉ IGNACIO CONDE-RUIZ ^[1] ; EDUARDO L. GIMÉNEZ ^[2]
  1. [1] Universidad Complutense de Madrid

     Universidad Complutense de Madrid

     Madrid, España

     
  2. [2] Universidade de Vigo

     Universidade de Vigo

     Vigo, España

     
• Localización: Documentos de trabajo ( FEDEA ), ISSN 1696-7496, Nº. 3, 2022, págs. 1-47
• Idioma: inglés
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• 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.