JORDAN: Jordan's first female waste disposal truck driver is breaking social taboos

Record ID: 406108

  • Title: JORDAN: Jordan's first female waste disposal truck driver is breaking social taboos
  • Date: 9th March 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HANAN KURDI, FIRST FEMALE WASTE COLLECTION VEHICLE DRIVER IN JORDAN, SAYING: "There are some people who give me the thumbs up, I think they should give me two thumbs up. There are people, especially women, who think it's weird and stare. I love the stares. I was a female driving instructor, so I worked with women for ten years, but the real joy is when
  • Embargoed: 24th March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jordan
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: Employment,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA7G0BL7AJR9BEZQB7FDCVT03SS
  • Story Text: As Jordan's first female waste collection vehicle driver, Hanan Kurdi has broken new ground in the efforts made by Jordanian women to successfully challenge the social barriers that have prevented them from boosting their numbers within the country's labour force.
    Kurdi, who originally started out as a driving instructor, initially found it difficult to enter Amman's Municipality to register as a waste collection vehicle driver, because a woman's presence in a male-dominated industry is often frowned upon.
    Kurdi counteracted the initial resistance when she met with Amman's governor and got special approval from him to do the job. But what she did not realise was that she would be the only woman in whole of Jordan to be doing the job.
    "I swear that when I entered the municipality I had no idea that I was going to be the only woman in the Kingdom, I thought that there were other women doing this job, so I was lucky. I had a problem with dealing with my co-workers at the beginning, when I used to sit with them, they had a special language. I replied to the things I liked but when I disapproved of something they said I used to walk out of the room. They eventually got used to me, this is my third year and they've adapted to my presence and they respect me. I now feel that I am a mother sitting amongst her children or that they are my younger brothers, so I do not have a problem now,"
    The public displays mixed reactions to Kurdi's doing what is predominantly viewed as a man's job. Some of those reactions are not positive. But Kurdi sees such reactions to her occupation as a challenge more than anything else.
    "There are people, especially women, who think it's weird and stare. I love the stares. I was a female driving instructor, so I worked with women for ten years, but the real joy is when you see people puzzled and thinking, what is this woman doing and why is she doing it?" she said.
    To Kurdi such reactions are a reflection of Jordanian perceptions of women in male dominated professions, and her advice to women is that they should take up the challenge.
    "My advice to women is that, whatever the work may be, work is not shameful. There are thousands of (women) doctors, teachers, and nurses, but there are no female (waste disposal) truck drivers and that is the challenge. I wish that people would start accepting the idea and we reach a point where it is not strange anymore," she added.
    Kurdi's determination to do the job she wants to do, regardless of how others view her role, has gradually resulted in a more positive view of her position in the labour force and a change in the male-centred approach to her work.
    "No, no, I do not think it is a weird phenomenon (to see a female driving a truck). Women ask for equality and we are ready for equality. We are a modern and democratic country and we are developing," said Mahmoud Abu Dayeh, a Jordanian citizen.
    Furthermore, encouragement for Kurdi- and other women who would like to take up such work is not only coming from outside the profession but also from within it.
    "We first found it difficult to accept a female carrying the sixth category licence which allows you to drive a truck, so we were surprised. Then we saw that her work is good and we can depend on her. So now she is our colleague and we love her and she loves us and we treat her like our sister," said Marwan Hamdan, Kurdi's co-worker.
    According to World Bank figures, the Middle East and North Africa have the lowest percentage of female participation in the labour work force in the world at 32 percent. A culture of shame and an association of family honour with women remain the main obstacle to female participation in the Jordanian labour force.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register