The children

Adolescence

© UNICEF Jordan

Our present knowledge about young people in Jordan

In 1998, the age group of 10–24 years old Jordanians constituted 35.1% of the total population of the country. Jordan holds consequently rank 8 out of 161 countries with regard to the youthfulness of its people. Youth issues deserve, therefore, to be in the forefront of public attention and action.

The life of young Jordanians is naturally embedded in the overall fabric of the Jordanian society. Their fate and future prospects are significantly influenced by the general social land economic trends that affect the country.

In 1998, UNICEF Jordan conducted a survey on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of basic life skills among 300 young Jordanians who were between 15 and 19 years of age. Young females reported more exposure to gender bias than young males. They observed this bias mostly within their families. Around one third of the sample indicated that they were subjected to verbal and physical abuse. Verbal abuse affected more often young females than young males. Verbal abuse of girls took place most often at home and at school, while boys experienced most verbal abuse at school. Boys were, however, significantly more often subjected to physical abuse than girls. While physical abuse affected again girls primarily at home, the school was the place where most boys were physically abused.

During the two Jordanian Youth Forums that were organised by UNICEF in 1999, the 12 – 22 years old participants from the various governorates of the country identified, among others, the following youth issues:

• An obvious contradiction between youth’s perception of their own roles and identities and society’s perceptions of the place of the young in society.
• Serious family problems affecting young Jordanians’ perspective on family relationships.
• Lack of communication between young males and females, which impairs their understanding of each other.
• Unequal educational opportunities for all, high academic performance pressure in secondary school, school curricula that are not relevant to the demands of the job market and high economic performance pressure particularly on young men.
• Generally restricted opportunities for young females with regard to freedom of choice, movement, and participation in public life and work.
• Limited political involvement of young people.
• Negative peer pressure.
• Lack of human rights awareness among youths.
• Lack of sports and other leisure time facilities for female and male youths.
• The threat of poverty and unemployment.