Is She Being Ceded? Narrative and Storytelling of the Pandemic Repercussions in Developing Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about profound worldwide socioeconomic effects on individuals and economies, prompting concern among scholars and economists regarding the additional socioeconomic burden it placed on already vulnerable groups (IMF, 2021). Various studies suggest that the pandemic has led to a "she-cession," with COVID-19 containment policies and procedures disproportionately impacting women's labor market participation (Albanesi & Kim, 2021). In particular, women have borne the brunt of job losses during the pandemic, with their employment prospects being 1.8 times worse than men's (Ro, 2020). COVID-19 has worsened the already fragile economic situation in Jordan, resulting in a significant increase in female unemployment rates. Jordan’s position in the Global Gender Gap report, as it ranked 131 out of 156 countries, demonstrates the gender equity issues specifically regarding economic participation and opportunities, educational attainment, health, survival, and political empowerment. The women's labor force participation rate in Jordan is less than 15% compared to 60% for men. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jordanian women's labor market has been adversely affected. The number of female teachers who lost their jobs reached 7,778, while the number of teachers reached 2,381. The sectors most affected were education, human health, social work activities, wholesale and retail trade, and manufacturing. This proposed study aims to discover the pandemic’s effect on the Jordanian women’s labor market and explore the determinants of the women’s labor forces’ deterioration and job losses due to the pandemic. Mainly, this study will seek to answer the following questions: (a) In light of the pandemic policies, are Jordanian women being (economically) ceded in Jordan? (b) What are the determinants of the “she-cession” case in Jordan? The proposed study will utilize qualitative research to understand the pandemic's consequences on Jordanian women in the labor market. The qualitative approach aligns with feminist research and its political goals to emphasize women's experiences and shared meanings. In-depth, semi-structured interviews will be used with purposive snowballing sampling to collect qualitative data, which will be analyzed through the narrative and thematic analysis approach utilizing MAXQDA software. The study's findings will be built upon the vulnerability theory premises.