Gendered Paradoxes
Educating Jordanian Women in Nation, Faith, and Progress
In 2005 the World Bank released a gender assessment of the nation of Jordan, a country that, like many in the Middle East, has undergone dramatic social and gender transformations, in part by encouraging equal access to education for men and women. The resulting demographic picture there – highly educated women who still largely stay at home as mothers and caregivers – prompted the World Bank to label Jordan a "gender paradox". In "Gendered Paradoxes", Fida J. Adely shows that assessment to be a fallacy, taking readers into the rarely seen halls of a Jordanian public school – the al-Khatwa High School for Girls – and revealing the dynamic lives of its students, for whom such trends are far from paradoxical.
Through the lives of these students, Adely explores the critical issues young people in Jordan grapple with today: nationalism and national identity, faith and the requisites of pious living, appropriate and respectable gender roles, and progress. In the process she shows the important place of education in Jordan, one less tied to the economic ends of labor and employment that are so emphasized by the rest of the developed world. In showcasing alternative values and the highly capable young women who hold them, Adely raises fundamental questions about what constitutes development, progress, and empowerment – not just for Jordanians, but for the whole world.
About the Author
Fida J. Adely is assistant professor and the Clovis and Hala Salaam Maksoud Chair in Arab Studies at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Reviews
"Focusing on the understudied country of Jordan and the infrequently addressed issue of the education of youth in the Middle East, 'Gendered Paradoxes' explores schools as sites for competing visions, expectations, dreams, and aspirations related to the meaning of womanhood, marriage, love, respectability, and morality. Fida Adely forcefully takes us beyond the view of the Arab woman as a 'passive' and 'oppressed' victim, sharing with us the words and experiences of a strong and vibrant group of young women who are actively working with and against contradictory and ambiguous norms that define notions of success, respectability, progress, and happiness" – Farha Ghannam, Swarthmore College
"Time and time again, media outlets conjure images of Arab women who need saving and empowering via the education and development initiatives of the Western world and international organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations. Fida Adely's close-focus examination of the education of young women in the Middle East moves away from such generalisations and stereotypes, and instead thoughtfully analyses the nuances and complexities of the everyday lives of a group of young women at al-Khatwa Secondary School for Girls in Bawadi al-Naseem, Jordan. This result is a breath of fresh air in an area dominated by sweeping terminology and homogeneity in descriptions of women in the Arab world. I found 'Gendered Paradoxes' an exciting addition to a limited body of literature and one that is sure to shift perceptions of women's schooling in the region" – Carine Allaf, Times Higher Education
"In 'Gendered Paradoxes', Fida Adely develops brilliantly the work of a new generation of scholars on women in the Middle East. Her concern with adolescent girls in school is original and most timely. Adely gives us a unique glimpse at the girls struggling intellectually and emotionally with their conditions, and particularly with all the possibilities and constraints Islam gives them. This work should put to rest the notion that people in the Middle East, and particularly women, are homogeneous or uncritical in their allegiances. Policy makers should pay attention" – Herve Varenne, Columbia University
"'Gendered Paradoxes' is a path-breaking study that challenges orthodoxies about women, education, and development in the Arab world (and elsewhere). Unique in the balance it strikes between sophisticated analysis and engaging ethnography, it opens our eyes both to the complexity of real girls' experiences of schooling in Jordan and the flaws in standard theories about why education matters. By far the best analysis of contemporary Jordanian society and culture I have read – taking on sensitive issues of family, nationalism, religion, and morality – this lucid book will become a classic. One can hope that it will also transform debates about gender and development" – Lila Abu-Lughod, Columbia University
