Creative Agency

Book Review: ‘Working Women in Jordan: Education, Migration, and Aspiration’
Fida J. Adely
Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 2024, 201 pages

Fida Adely, a professor at Georgetown University, doesn’t write about famous people or monuments. Instead, she engages with everyday issues and so-called ordinary people, searching for the extraordinary in the ordinary. This was the case with her first book, “Gender Paradox”, which lead her to interview high school girls in North Jordan, about how they viewed the link between education, work, marriage and raising a family. In this, her new book, she interviews mainly young women who have chosen to leave their provincial town or village, to work in Amman.

Surely Adely’s Jordanian heritage playeda role in her decision to do research in Jordan, but one also senses her intense intellectual curiosity, striving to discover what motivates people and how they cope with their life--its opportunities, problems and challenges.

To undertake this ethnographic study, Adely interviewed dozens of women, most in their twenties, over a period of five years, beginning in 2011. The inclusion of their stories provides a lively, down-to-earth point of departure for her analysis. Though diverse in many respects, they were united in being well educated and convinced that their education qualified them for better jobs than were available in the provinces. They were also seeking independence. Many had been trained in engineering or computer science. “Entry into these fields is also facilitated by cultural norms that do not mark the study of math or science as gendered fields more suitable to men, as is the case in the United States, for example.” (p. 7)

This book overturns some common misconceptions about Jordanian society. Contrary to expectations, many of the women interviewed were supported by their parents in their decision to seek employment in the capital. The author outlines the economic changes in recent decades that underlie evolving gender and social norms, such as reduced state welfare, neoliberal policies, privatisation and the creation of more private sector jobs, including with NGOs and humanitarian aid work. While the women interviewed were able to take advantage of these changes, they were also clearly makers of such change. A historical chapter puts these more recent changes in perspective.

Most of these women eventually found a suitable job; most lived in dormitories; many supported their family financially,and most had to deal with negative assumptions about their provincial or tribal origins.“The aspirations of these women and their trajectories, while clearly shaped by economic forces—perceived opportunities, ideas about valuable labor, and ongoing economic crisis—cannot be reduced to them.”  (p. 148) 

   Though some of the young women worried that migration and prioritising their career might be an obstacle to marriage, they were also aware that men increasingly seek partners who can contribute to covering rising household expenses. In fact, a number of the interviewees did marry in the course of the study. To describe these young women seeking a new life and professional advancement, Adely applies the term “creative agency” to denote their decisions and actions.