Jordanian Mothers, Facts and Figures

The developments experienced in Jordan during the recent years had their impact on the conditions and characteristics of mothers in Jordan.  Improvements in education and health care have affected the household size, fertility rates and age at the time of first marriage. These in turn, undoubtedly, affect mothers' role as holder of a noble message and educator of all generations.

Mothers constitute a large percentage of the Jordanian women.  The results of the Population and Household Health Survey implemented by the Department of Statistics have shown that 92% of the married women within the age group 15-49 years have given birth to one child at least, while the percentage of mothers who gave birth to more than 5 live children was 37.8% out of the total married women.

The (SMAM) Single Mean Age at First Marriage has risen significantly during the period 1979-2004, where it has risen from 21 years in 1979 to 25.6 years in 2004 which has contributed to lowering the number of expected births due to the shortened reproductive period of the Jordanian woman by 11 years.

Data have also shown that education had a tangible impact on delaying the marriage time for females.  Women with a secondary education level get married two years late than those who are not educated or who attained elementary or preparatory education. Moreover, women with more than higher secondary education get married at least after 5 years as compared to uneducated women.

Total Fertility Rate, representing the average number of children that could be born by the woman in Jordan at the end of her reproductive period, has declined to 3.2 child, thus decreasing by 57% as compared to the total fertility rate in 1976 (7.4 child per female).  Data also indicated that the decline percentage in this average during the last 12 years (1990-2002) was 34%.  Accordingly, the average household size has decreased from 6.7 individuals in 1979 to 5.4 individuals in 2004 as a result of the tangible fall in birth levels.

The education of the mother correlates reversely with child deaths.  Under Five Mortality Rates were around 44 per thousand live births among children of mothers with elementary education or the uneducated, and 24 per thousand live births for those who are above secondary.  Mothers residing in urban areas tend to obtain every prenatal health care components outweighing mothers in the rural areas.  Furthermore, mothers with secondary education or above tended to obtain all routine check-ups more than the less educated mothers.  Similarly, mothers with an elementary education tended to obtain all prenatal health care components more than uneducated women.

Data indicate that 6% only of ever married women and/or their husbands have undergone pre-marriage medical tests.  This indicator arouses concerns since 43% of ever married women have a sort of kinship with their husbands, 26% of them are first degree cousins.  The above percentage   (. i.e 6%) was two folds the percentage in rural areas (3%).  Meanwhile, highly educated women (7%) have the highest tendency for pre-marriage tests as compared to uneducated women (2%).

The data of the Population and Household Census 2004 indicated that the percentage of women who headed their households was 10.5%.  According to data at governorates level, the Tafileh Governorate in the southern region has registered the highest percentage at 11.7%, while the Aqaba Governorate was the lowest at 5.2%.

The participation of women who head their households in the labor market is considered as low, where the employed constitute 9.1% of them.  Furthermore, the results have shown that 45% of women household heads are illiterate, 31% of them are below secondary level, while the percentage of household heads holding secondary certificate or higher was 24%.  The results have also shown that 52.3% of the household heads were covered by medical insurance, while 47.3% were not covered.