| Women of Jordan: Islam, Labor, and the Law Contributor(s): Sonbol, Amira El-Azhary (Author) |
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ISBN: 0815629850 ISBN-13: 9780815629856 Publisher: Syracuse University Press OUR PRICE: $23.70 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2003 Annotation: An incisive study of the past, present, and future of Jordanian and Palestinian women women and issues of employment education, human rights, Islamic law, and legal practice. Focusing specifically on Jordanian and Palestinian women, Amira El-Azhary Sonbol shows the legal constraints extant in a number of legal codes, namely penal codes that permit violence against Muslim women and personal status laws that require a husband's permission for a woman to work. Leniency in honor crimes and early marriage and motherhood for girls are other factors which extend the patriarchal power throughout an Arab and Muslim woman's life, and ultimately deny her full legal competency. Constitutions may declare all citizens equal before the eyes of the law, but labor, personal status, and criminal laws contradict this Significantly, Sonbol notes that social acceptance of these laws as "Islamic" constitutes a major problem in any effort to change them even though historically the Islamic Shari'a actually encourages women's work and throughout Islamic history Muslim women have contributed materially to their society's economy. In a book that will make an important contribution to the literature in the field Sonbol effectively illustrates how Jordanian laws controlling gender, family, and work combine with laws and legal philosophies derived from tribal, traditional, Islamic, and modern laws to form a strict patriarchal structure. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science - Social Science | Feminism & Feminist Theory - Social Science | Women's Studies |
| Dewey: 305.420 |
| LCCN: 2002012942 |
| Series: Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East |
| Physical Information: 0.68" H x 5.52" W x 8.14" (0.99 lbs) 314 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In the first book to address the dilemma faced by Jordanian women in the workforce, Amira El-Azhary Sonbol delineates the constraints chat exist in a number of legal practices, namely penal codes chat permit violence against Muslim women and personal status laws that require a husband's permission for a woman to work. Leniency in honor crimes and early marriage and motherhood for girls are other factors that extend the patriarchal power throughout a woman's life, and ultimately deny her full legal competency. Significantly, Sonbol notes that society's accepting as "Islamic" the legal constraints that control women's work constitutes a major barrier to any effort to change them, even though historically the Islamic sharia actually encourages women's work, and despite the fact that Muslim women have contributed materially to their society'seconomy. The author covers new ground as she effectively illustrates how Jordanian laws governing gender, family, and work combine with laws and legal philosophies derived from tribal, traditional, Islamic, and modern laws to form a strict patriarchal structure. |