Progress Amid Resistance

JORDAN 209Women’s freedom to choose their profession is influenced by legal regulationsand cultural attitudes dictating what kind of jobs are appropriatefor women. According to Article 23 of the constitution and Article 69 ofthe labor code, the minister of labor issues decisions specifying the industriesand economic activities that are off limits for female workers, as wellas the hours during which women are prohibited from working. Womenare barred from working in mines and quarries and are not allowed towork between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., except in places like hotels, theaters,restaurants, airports, offices of tourism, hospitals, clinics, and sometransportation industries. Exceptions are also made for special conditionslike annual inventories and preparations for seasonal retail sales, as well asjobs that involve a fear of financial loss. Evening work for women is limitedto 30 days per year, and there is also a maximum of 10 working hoursa day. Although these restrictions limit women’s ability to compete withmen in the job market, they are seen among many Jordanians as legitimatemeans of protecting women from harmful working conditions.Over 60 percent of working Jordanian women are employed in “social”professions such as education (41 percent), health and social work (15.1percent), and personal, social, and service activities (5.7 percent). 23 Thesalaries in these professions tend to be low. Women have also begun tochallenge social norms by assuming jobs in male-dominated fields. Theyhave become plumbers, garbage-truck drivers, demining technicians, powerlineworkers, pilots, and traffic police, among other professions. The percentageof women entrepreneurs in 2008 reached 6 percent in the formalsector. Similarly, the share of administrative and managerial positions heldby women rose from 2 percent in 1998 to 11 percent in 2005. 24Although gender-based discrimination in employment is not officiallyper missible, it is widespread in practice. According to Article 41(c) of the2007 Civil Service Ordinance, public-sector employment is determinedsolely by the results of exams and personal interviews. Nevertheless, theor dinance favors men in the distribution of benefits like family and costof-livingallowances. For example, a married man with children under 18receives a monthly allowance of 15 dinars (US$21), and a married man withno children receives 10, while a woman may receive this benefit only if she isa widow or her husband is disabled. This disparity is premised upon that factthat within the Jordanian legal, cultural, and religious value system, womentechnically have the right to be financially supported by husbands.