The Changing Roles of Young Single Women in Jordan Before the Great Recession: An Explanation Using Economic Theory

Before the Great Recession (i.e., the 2008 Financial Crises), young single women in Jordan, as in other Middle Eastern and North African countries with a strong Islamic cultural tradi-tion, 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 the liberalization of the Jordanian economy resulted in important changes in Jordanian social norms regarding gender roles, school enrollment, labor participation, marriage and fertility. In particular, three apparently disconnected contemporaneous developments may be inter-related: increase in the average age of women at marriage, enhanced participation of young single women in the labor market, and higher unemployment rate among young men. This process stopped in the late 2000s, both due to exogenous factors (the Great Recession after 2008 and the Syrian civil war in 2011) and endogenous reasons (existing attitudes towards working women). We argue that economic conditions may play a role as the driving forces for social transformation, and open a window to women’s opportunities and empowerment.