NSU faculty present 'Reflections on Jordan'; Movie screenings

(Tahlequah, Okla.)--Following a trip to Jordan, two Northeastern State faculty members shared their insights into gender equality in the Middle East recently.

Dr. Amy Aldridge Sanford, assistant professor of communication studies and Dr. Dilene Crockett, associate professor of business administration at NSU-Broken Arrow spoke of their International Faculty Development fellowships during their presentation, Reflections on Jordan.

Crockett and Sanford visited Jordan in June to study gender and economic issues in the Middle East. The trip was arranged by the Council on International Education Exchange in cooperation with NSU.

Sanford said western and middle eastern ideas of masculinity and femininity are influenced by much the same forces: religion, popular culture, family and friends.

However, in Jordan there is no separation of church and state, she said. There are Sharia courts and civil courts, and I think the religious courts have a little more power than the secular.

The Sept. 29 discussion was linked through ITV between the Tahlequah and Broken Arrow campuses, where Sanford and Crockett spoke respectively. The presentation was also carried to Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton.

We spent most of our time in Amman, Sanford said. However, we also got to visit the Dead Sea and a Bedouin village.

In Jordan, generations of families live together in ever-expanding houses and great importance is attached to tribal affiliation. Sanford said Jordans social norms do not reward the individualistic behavior so often encouraged in western countries.

A first-born son in this culture means everything, she said. The father and mother change their names. The first-born male is the family identity. You are expected to get a prestigious job which will enhance the familys honor. Who you date reflects on your family. I went there to find out what girls deal with, but I learned so much about boys and what pressures they must deal with.

As westerners might expect, an ideal Jordanian woman is expected to be subordinate to brothers and men in the tribe, dress modestly, spend much time at home and not to go out in public without a chaperone. Sanford said Jordanian womens groups, non-government agencies and significantly the royal family are working to improve gender equality.

The royal family does have great influence, Sanford said. King Abdullah II, Queen Rania al-Abdullah and other royalty believe in equality of the sexes and talk openly about it. But there is only so much they can do because of the established culture.

Crocketts discussion looked at domestic violence in Jordan and its possible motivations. Per capita, household violence against women is almost twice as common in Jordan as in the U.S. When compared proportionately, Honor killings occur more often in Jordan than spousal or boyfriend-girlfriend homicides in the U.S.

While perpetrators claim these killings are committed to protect family honor, one man from a non-government agency told us he believes they are motivated by greed, Crockett said. A Jordanian study showed that 73 percent of victims and 66 percent of perpetrators came from poverty. He suspects sisters are being killed to claim a larger share of a familys inheritance.

Laws are also poorly enforce in Jordan, Crockett said, so changing laws doesn't make much difference.

People pursue claims through connections to those who can grant favors, not through personal rights, she said. Any right is obtained through an obligation. For example a guardian has the right to expect female relatives to obey, but only because the guardian is obligated to provide for all their needs.

Women in Jordan are not active in the workforce, with their economic activity rate only at around 15 percent. Crockett said there is little incentive for women to work because they are not permitted to spend household funds paychecks go to husbands or families.

The Jordanian women we spoke with wanted us to remind American women to take advantage of the opportunities they have, Crockett said. They said women in the U.S. should make the most of their potential.

The trip was arranged by the Council on International Education Exchange in cooperation with NSU to offer comprehensive study opportunities. The program is funded through an endowment with the Office of International Programs and managed by the NSU Foundation.

Sanford reminded those in attendance not to regard the seminar as a comprehensive study of Jordanian society.

I wouldnt want someone to spend a week and Tahlequah and think they know all about Oklahoma, she said. It is also important that we understand that there is no desire among Jordanians to see people swoop in from other countries and fix everything. They want to change things themselves from the inside out.

Further movie screenings are Oct. 11 at 3 p.m. in Seminary Hall, Room 204, and Oct. 12 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 139 of the Education building in Broken Arrow. The Jordanian film to be shown is My City, which looks at the diminished community roles of women in a rural town in Jordan. The films length is 24 minutes. Admission is free.

For more information about the presentation and film screenings call Sanford at 918-444-3608 or Crockett at 918-449-6548.