DANA EBÛ AYAŞ

Jordan – Jordanian women have been breaking gender stereotypes by working in the fields dominated or seen as “men's jobs”. Three female mechanical engineers both work for making a living and breaking all gender stereotypes. Graduated from the university in 2020, 26-year-old Salam Al-Abadi is a young mechanical engineer and she has just begun to work. She wanted to study engineering after she wrote an article entitled ‘Man, who has 10 wives'. “This sentence became a source of inspiration and motivation for me,” said Salam.

“I faced social pressure”

Noting that women have been seen as goods by Arab society and media, Salam said, “As a woman, I cannot accept this. That's why I decided to be an engineer. My family didn’t object to my decision but I heard many negative comments from my family members and people around me. People around me condemned it very much. I faced social pressure. I was often told, ‘What will you after graduating from the university?’, ‘Where will you work?’ ‘Will you work under machines?’ but none of those comments discouraged me.” She decided to be a mechanical engineer after reading an article entitled, ‘A man, who has 10 wives’. “This sentence became a source of inspiration and motivation for me,” said Salam.

“My love for cars and engines pushed me to do this job”

27-year-old Nur Al-Alan graduated from Mutah University in 2018. “My love for cars and engines pushed me to do this job”, said Nur Al-Alan while talking about why she had decided to be a mechanical engineer. Her family also never objected to her decision to study mechanical engineering but when she began to work, they objected to her. She was told, ‘Stay with children at home, this job is not a women’s job’, “I wanted to get rid of all the negative comments I heard when I started working,” Nur Al-Alan told us what three women faced when they decided to work together.

“Social stereotypes have been changed in time”

Tasnim Al-Bar is also 27 years old, Mother of a child, Tasnim graduated from the university in 2017. “I studied mechanical engineering at university. I was planning to study chemical engineering later but I changed my mind because I liked being a mechanical engineer and I felt I could be creative by doing this job,” Tasnim said that her husband and her family have supported her. “Working as a mechanical engineer doesn’t only mean we work on cars. You can work for companies producing heavy vehicles or machine factories. I previously worked in the solar energy area and I am now an intern for Heavy Machine Mechanics. We live in a society ignoring women. As a woman, I can work in every field I want. In the past, women couldn’t go to school but now they can. Social stereotypes have been changed in time. Women will work in all fields dominated or seen as men’s jobs. This will be seen normal in the future.”