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Jordan Changing Social Relations and Values
Relations between men and women, along with all other aspects
of Jordanian society, had begun to change as people adopted values,
attitudes, and customs much different from those traditional in the
country. As new ideas reached all sectors of society, new
perceptions and practices began to appear.
Increased social and physical mobility have undermined the
familial ties and the values that subordinated the individual to
the kin group. A growing individualism has appeared, especially
among the educated young. Many young people prefer to set up their
own household at marriage rather than live with their parents.
Labor migration has had a considerable impact on family structure
and relations. In some cases, where men migrate without their
families, their wives and children see the husband only once or
twice a year when he visits. If the wife and children live alone,
this arrangement leads to increased responsibility and autonomy for
women. Also, the children in such families grow up without knowing
their fathers well. When the wife and children live with the
migrant's extended family, they are usually under the authority of
her husband's family.
Some of the most marked social changes have affected women's
roles. In urban areas, young women have begun to demand greater
freedom and equality than in the past, although traditional
practices still broadly govern their lives. Since the 1960s, women
have become more active outside the home. In the 1980s, girls'
school enrollment was nearly parallel to that of boys, and female
graduates entered the work force in increasing numbers
(see Jordan - Education
, this ch.). Girls who attended school were not as closely
chaperoned as they formerly were, although they rarely went out
with friends in the evening. Educated women also tended to marry
later, often after working for several years. The average age of
marriage for women had risen from the mid-teens to the early
twenties; the average age for males was between twenty-six and
twenty-eight years. The narrowing of the gap in age between
marriage partners signified a changing conception of the conjugal
unit and its relation to the larger family group. Companionship and
notions of romantic love were playing a greater role in marital
arrangements than heretofore. Marriages were still a family affair,
but the relationship between man and wife was assuming increasing
significance. This change reflected a dilution in the strength of
families as social units with corporate interests that subordinated
those of the individual.
By the late 1980s, some observers had noted that couples tended
to want fewer children. This trend appeared to parallel the changes
in women's position in society and shifts in the political economy,
which had implications for family structure, relations, and values.
Women's education and employment patterns meant that child rearing
was no longer the only role open to women. The need for dual-income
households pointed to a decrease in the amount of time women could
devote to child rearing. In the transition from an agricultural and
pastoral society to one based on services, where literacy was a
must, children required longer periods of education and thus were
dependent for extended periods upon their families. Large families
were no longer as economically feasible or desirable as in the
past.
The spread of the nuclear household encouraged the detachment
of the individual from the demands of the extended family. At the
same time, social security lessened the dependence of the aged on
their children and other relatives. The functions of the extended
family, however, were not necessarily diminished; given economic
upheavals and a weak infrastructure for state social services,
Jordanians continued to rely upon the extended family, even if many
of its members resided in nuclear units.
Generational conflicts, which observers believed to be
increasing, strained family relations when young people attempted
to adopt standards and behavior different from those of their
parents. Modern, secular education, with its greater emphasis on
utility and efficiency, tended to undermine respect for the wisdom
of age and the rightness of tradition. Male wage earners also were
less dependent on older males for access to resources such as land
and bridewealth.
Data as of December 1989
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