Jordan Labor Watch - Ahmad Malkawi
A study by Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics Studies has found that the presence of husbands in the home during the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on their wives’ work, especially during the initial phase of lockdown between March and April of 2020. According to the study, which had a sample size of 800 working women in Jordan, 80% of women respondents reported that their work during the period of lockdown was negatively affected by their husbands’ presence - on both a social and economic level.
The study, titled “"The Impact of COVID-19 on Availability of Jobs and on Working Conditions for Women in Jordan”, relied on a descriptive analytical methodological approach. The study found that men who had to work from home relied on their wives to create adequate conditions for remote work for them, but in turn disregarded their wives’ need for adequate conditions for remote work. Additionally, wives shouldered the burden of domestic work.
One of the respondents of the study reported that her husband was a daily wage worker who was unable to work when the initial lockdown hit, which led to her having to shoulder increased responsibilities in addition to being the main breadwinner and being responsible for all domestic and childcare work.
The study noted that one of the main obstacles that have negatively impacted women’s working conditions is their husband’s lack of understanding regarding their wives’ economic, domestic and social labor during the pandemic.
The study, which is to be published soon, found that the challenges impacting working women during the COVID-19 pandmeic are as follows: reduced working hours (49.9%), taking on more paid time off of work (16.8%), and less time for domestic matters such as cleaning the house, taking care of children and helping children with school (8.4%), and taking unpaid time off of work (8.4%).
During the pandemic, working women have had to utilize strategies such as taking both paid and unpaid time off of work and reducing their working hours. This may disproportionately impact the promotability of working women, as well as impacting the ability of working women to reach leadership positions within the administrative hierarchy in their place of work.
The study concluded that the majority of women in Jordan work because of a financial necessity - either because they are the sole financial providers for their families, or because their husbands’ income alone was insufficient to support their families. Just 2% of respondents reported that they were working out of a need for self-fulfilment or to achieve their own ambitions. This draws into question commonly-accepted cultural myths that because men are traditionally the breadwinners for families, they should be prioritized for employment over women.