Congratulations to Dr. Fida Adely, CCAS Director and Hala and Clovis Maksoud Chair in Arab Studies, on the publication of her new book, Working Women in Jordan: Education, Migration, and Aspiration (University of Chicago Press, 2024), which builds on her longstanding research on gender, education, and labor in Jordan. Adely’s first book, Gendered Paradoxes: Educating Jordanian Women in Nation, Faith, and Progress, was also published by the University of Chicago Press. 
In Working Women in Jordan, Adely considers the experiences of women who move from provincial towns and villages in Jordan to Amman in search of employment, greater independence, and mobility. Adely explores how these women navigate life in the capital: looking for work, living in unfamiliar urban neighborhoods, supporting family back home, and weighing decisions about marriage and the future. The book is grounded in the narratives of the women Adely interviewed—their aspirations, the challenges they face, and their successes.
As Adely lays out in her book, the lives of these women are shaped not only by their personal ambitions or responsibilities, but also by broader economic and social changes—including the expansion of higher education, urbanization, labor market restructuring, and shifting expectations around gender and family. Working Women in Jordan offers insight into how social and economic shifts in Jordan are experienced at the individual level, showing how young women make meaning of their choices and how their stories intersect with national development goals and policy narratives. It also raises broader questions about education, opportunity, and mobility in the region.