Gender and Generation in Household Labor Supply in Jordan

This paper examines both gender and age differences in the labor supply of households in Jordan, as well as the impact of young women’s employment on gender and generation relations. The objective of the study is to address the issues of gender and generation as factors influencing accessibility to labor markets, and to provide a broader understanding of female employment by exploring age-related factors. Empirically, the study looks at the disproportionate workforce participation of young urban single women in Amman, Jordan, and argues that this generation of working women is evidence of a new stage in the lives of Jordanian women: single employed adulthood. In other words it looks at a specific “time” in the social and economic lives of households and individuals. Within this context, the paper attempts to construct a profile of employment characteristics of adult household members in order to explore the intersecting influences of age and gender and the specific positions of young women. It then addresses how normative gender and generation hierarchies within households respond to these phenomena of young women’s work, their prolonged single status and their expanding horizons. In many ways, Jordanian households are experiencing changes in demographic structures, internal organization and economic balance. These factors heavily influence family ideologies and the behavior of individuals. Adult single working women seem to be at the centre of these changes, where they must negotiate new realities.