I have recently submitted my dissertation about working Jordanian women and their progression in their careers, and the difficulties they face. Skipping all academic researches and findings, I have grown very attached to this issue Jordan faces, and felt as though I should be standing up for them and do something about this. However, the conclusion of the topic all goes down to the culture of the country, both men and women, and it will take a long long loooooooooong time until anything happens. The problem goes down to the culture in the country.
The reason I brought this topic up is a news article on BBC titled Egypt TV presenter 'in first headscarf appearance'. I have not done much research so please feel free to criticize & comment, but I don't believe there are a lot of news presenters in Jordan who would be veiled, not because the regime or the law, on the contrary, Jordan's labour laws are quite advanced. I will walk away from the TV presenter topic in Jordan as I do lack knowledge there.. but as concluded in my research, as well as many other literature reviews, being veiled in Jordan does not help with some employment opportunities such as hospitality, tourism, or anything that is customer focused. And if you really think about it, most banks, unless it is an Islamic bank, would have non veiled women working, and being veiled will affect your chance of being employed. The culture sees it as not presentable, or even worse, women as a friendly face can attract customers, and in the sales and marketing field, take retail for example and go to your average mall, all sales personnel would be non-veiled. And many companies and sectors, would openly state in their add the preference of non-veiled women. This is very surprising considering the majority of the country are veiled, and that it is an Islamic country.
However, when watching the Dubai One channel, every Jordanian person would have this channel in their home, they do have presenters who are not only veiled, but presenting in the traditional clothing on an English speaking channel. This is a country that is very rapidly developing and has Western influences worldwide, and when compared to the very Islamic country such as Jordan, it is preferred to be as WESTERN looking for certain jobs as possible...So when reading this phrase in the article, Under Mubarak's regime, veiled women and those with headcoverings employed in the TV industry were given jobs away from the cameras, where similarly applied in Jordan where veiled women are preferred to work in back offices... and there are no regulations that says this should be the case, it could be just that the Jordanian population think the same way as Mubarak.. It is something we should ask ourselves.
The reason I brought this topic up is a news article on BBC titled Egypt TV presenter 'in first headscarf appearance'. I have not done much research so please feel free to criticize & comment, but I don't believe there are a lot of news presenters in Jordan who would be veiled, not because the regime or the law, on the contrary, Jordan's labour laws are quite advanced. I will walk away from the TV presenter topic in Jordan as I do lack knowledge there.. but as concluded in my research, as well as many other literature reviews, being veiled in Jordan does not help with some employment opportunities such as hospitality, tourism, or anything that is customer focused. And if you really think about it, most banks, unless it is an Islamic bank, would have non veiled women working, and being veiled will affect your chance of being employed. The culture sees it as not presentable, or even worse, women as a friendly face can attract customers, and in the sales and marketing field, take retail for example and go to your average mall, all sales personnel would be non-veiled. And many companies and sectors, would openly state in their add the preference of non-veiled women. This is very surprising considering the majority of the country are veiled, and that it is an Islamic country.
However, when watching the Dubai One channel, every Jordanian person would have this channel in their home, they do have presenters who are not only veiled, but presenting in the traditional clothing on an English speaking channel. This is a country that is very rapidly developing and has Western influences worldwide, and when compared to the very Islamic country such as Jordan, it is preferred to be as WESTERN looking for certain jobs as possible...So when reading this phrase in the article, Under Mubarak's regime, veiled women and those with headcoverings employed in the TV industry were given jobs away from the cameras, where similarly applied in Jordan where veiled women are preferred to work in back offices... and there are no regulations that says this should be the case, it could be just that the Jordanian population think the same way as Mubarak.. It is something we should ask ourselves.
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