Transforming Beliefs to Support Women Economic Empowerment (Womenomics)

• In Event: Education for social entrepreneurship and youth participation In Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and UAE

Proposal

1. Introduction

High female unemployment rates are one of the most pressing issues in Jordan. The barriers to employment are cultural norms that consider particularly vocational work as undesirable (culture of shame). This is problematic as many of the available positions are to be found in the vocational sector.
It is therefore crucial to introduce a career counselling program in public schools in Jordan which encourage girls to think beyond cultural and gender-based limitations and choose the career according to their own abilities, skills and the availability of jobs in the labor market.
To that end, a career guidance program was devised to change perception towards vocational work. The program was designed with the objective to change the culture of shame about vocational jobs, as well as gender-based constraints related to career choices, particularly those faced by women in relation to vocational work.

2. Methodology

The development of the content for the Career Guidance Program was inspired by the theory of transformative learning (developed by Mezirow) which explains the process by which we come to question taken for granted beliefs, re-assess their value in a process of “rational discourse” and “critical reflection” and transform those beliefs into system of meanings and values that are “more justified to guide action” (Mezirow, 2000). The program includes activities and information that aim to create a new experience for students regarding vocational work, create a dilemma by confronting students with new perspectives, include positive messages about women there, provide information about the different professions and the labor market, and equip students with self-evaluation and career planning techniques as well as job searching and application skills.

3. Implementation - Training of Trainer (ToT) (phase 1):

Two ToT Career Guidance Training Workshops took place in Amman (with the participation of 36 counselors and 4 teachers) and in Aqaba (with the participation of 13 counselors). The goal of the training was to gain information on the participants’ experience, their preparedness to conduct career counselling as well as their opinions about the factors that should determine girls and boys career choices.

a. Key Findings:

When comparing the pre- and post-test regarding the knowledge-based questions in both, Amman and Aqaba, the results show that participants significantly increased their knowledge on career counselling. However, all participants reveal an attitude which considers a difference in career counselling for boys and girls. While participants identify individual skills as important for boys and girls, it is remuneration that is identified as second most important criteria for boys, while it is the acceptance of the family and social acceptance that is identified as second and first most important criteria for girls.


4. Implementation- Pilot Program (Phase 2):

The Career Guidance Program was piloted and implemented in four public schools; two of those were boys and two girls. The schools were equally divided between rural and urban areas in Jordan and targeted 114 students from grades 8 through 10. The pilot program was implemented by select counselors that have undergone the ToT.

a. Key Findings:

When looking at the results of the classroom observation and the students’ pre and post-evaluation, it seems that certain instruction techniques have a particular strong learning effect on the students. Particularly in which the teacher invited a woman from the community and conducted a role play with the students, the students’ responses seem to be largely congruent with the messages delivered through these instruction techniques. Particularly the story of the woman seemed to have created a strong experience on the side of the students, as evident in the responses of the students who reflected the main messages delivered by the woman invited from the community. While not necessarily a disorienting experience, the story of the woman and the role play seemed to have created a strong “learning experience” on the side of the students. A similar effect could also be observed in the class (boys school) in which the teacher showed a video about women in vocational work. In that class, most of the students adopted a positive position towards women in work in the written post-evaluation.

b. Discourse

The discourse that took place during the class was concerning gender and women in work. Many of the students who expressed a positive attitude towards gender and women in work in the post-evaluation, were silent during the class. In two cases it was observed how teachers even silenced those students who expressed such views during the class. Hence, while the written post-evaluation shows that these voices do exist, teachers were unable to encourage the expression of such opinions during the class, thereby missing the opportunity to change the discourse in a different direction.

c. Critical Reflection

The students’ results show that the career counselling session led a majority of students to re-think how to choose their career. This shows that students started to reflect on their career choices based on the content provided. The results from the classroom observation show, however, that teachers could make more use of opportunities and situations created during the class, to encourage critical reflection and make students share their thoughts with their fellow students.

5. Conclusion:

To conclude, the classroom observation and the students’ pre and post-evaluation seem to indicate, that the potential for transformative learning does exist if teachers make use of instruction techniques that create strong learning experiences for students. Furthermore, if teachers shift the in-class discourse by encouraging alternative voices to be expressed. Finally, if teachers encourage critical reflection by making use of the favorable situations created during the class.

Author

• Mayyada Abu Jaber, Non profit