The exclusion of women in the Jordanian labour force and the EU's response

Abstract

Despite being a costly phenomenon, gender inequality continues to exist impacting women’s participation in economies around the world. Barriers such as unequal care and household duties, limited financial independence and social norms restrict women’s participation and involvement in economies. The Hashemite of Jordan exemplifies these challenges as low female labour force participation (one of the lowest in the world) and high female unemployment prevail. This thesis aims to address why these two issues are present, which barriers can be considered main drivers and how the EU aims to curb low participation and high unemployment for women in Jordan and support women. While literature suggests that education is not a major contributing factor as access and enrolment at all levels of educational institutions is equal between boys and girls and men and women, societal and legal factors such as a lack of affordable childcare services, a poor transportation system and discriminate laws are at the core of the two central issues. Women are expected to take on the majority of household duties, resulting in the so-called care burden. Additionally, there are polices and laws in place that ultimately discourage businesses from hiring women as this might be costly to them. At the core of all this lays the strong patriarchal mindset within the Jordanian society. As part of this study, qualitative research methods were employed in form of interviews; experts were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews in order to share their valuable experience and expertise. The data analysis follows the Grounded Theory approach, having coded each interview transcript and identifying common themes. The results of the thematic analysis reveal many commonalities with existing literature but also provides new insights: the balancing act, dichotomy of education and disequilibrium of supply and demand as well as the rigidity of Jordanian law-makers and society stand at the core of the analysis. Furthermore, EU support mechanisms are investigated. Under the umbrella of the European Neighbourhood Policy, Jordan receives financial aid within the realm of EU-Jordan partnership priorities for the 2021-2027 period. It is found that while the EU recognises the issue of low female participation and high female unemployment, it falls short in comprehensively tackling both issues. It mainly lays its focus on education while disregarding other contributing factors as identified in both the literature and the interview analysis. Contrasting to this, women’s rights organisations, such as the EuroMed Feminist Initiative, takes a more multifaceted approach, being involved on multiple levels, from supporting and organising local projects to lobbying on government level. This thesis concludes with recommendations to the EU to improve its support towards the Hashemite of Jordan with regards to low female labour force participation and high female unemployment.