Jordan Times
Friday, April 7, 2006
Interactive play spreads
message of economic empowerment for women
By Sheila M. Dabu
JERASH — An experimental approach to spreading the message of economic
empowerment for women took place in Jerash earlier this week.
The interactive play featuring actors from the Noor Al Hussein Foundation's
Performing Arts Centre, drew an audience of more than 150 local residents at the
Balila Theatre in Jerash.
Many of the women in attendance were starting microcredit projects.
Unlike a traditional lecture, the interactive play is an informal way of
learning, said Rania Sweitithe, programme coordinator for the project under the
Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development's Small Business Development
Centre (SBDC).
“They get the message because they feel this is close to their real lives,” she
said.
The play featured skits interspersed with open discussions with the audience.
The fictitious family emphasised messages relating to women's invisible
contributions in the household through personal savings and household management
skills — including buying items in bulk.
The play also addressed women's inheritance rights.
Many women argued that according to the Koran, women are entitled to these
rights, but in practice, some female audience members acknowledged that they
signed away their inheritance rights to their brothers, a practice they said is
common.
Abla Abdul Hadi, project officer for the Women and Housing Rights Programme at
the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, previously told The Jordan Times
that the arguments used by family members to convince a woman to sign away her
inheritance include not wanting their father's money to go outside the family or
promising to invest the money and handle all financial matters for her.
“Ultimately family pressure proves to be very convincing; many women are
threatened they will be ostracised or disowned by their brothers if they don't
sign an agreement giving up their share of inheritance,” she said.
“From this play, we find a lot of ideas... For example, each woman has a right
to take her inheritance,” Raja Abu Armash, a local businesswoman and audience
member from Jerash, told The Jordan Times.
Meanwhile, the interactive event also sparked discussion about the so-called
“culture of shame.”
“Because of tradition, it is shameful for women to work in the industrial zone”
given that women would have to work alongside men in factories, said Rania
Wahadneh, SBDC's loan officer.
Also, if a man opens a store and employs his daughter, people would look at this
practice with disapproval, she added.
Sweiti said the play, which was a project of the SBDC with support from the
Canadian International Development Agency and OXFAM Quebec, could be a template
for similar projects in the near future.