The Study

The term ‘honor crimes’, a grave misnomer in light of its tragic outcomes, has largely become synonymous with the murder of women – mostly young women. The act of an ‘honor’ killing, aided by loopholes in a penal system dating back to the 18^th century, mostly takes place within sections of society where a restrictive definition of morality has been adopted and where men take it upon themselves to punish ‘errant’ women within their families.

The men who murder their female relatives feel that their actions are sanctioned and therefore should go unpunished. Sections of society not only accept the crime as an honorable deed, but more worryingly, they pressure, shun, ostracize and force families within their fold to murder their daughters, sisters, mothers and female cousins.

The Information and Research Center (IRC) started looking at the cases of female killings in Jordan in 2002 when it conducted an extensive study for UNIFEM and came across shocking indicators of the prevalence of violence against women in Jordan from male members of the family. A significant number of these murders were claimed as ‘honor’ crimes where women were accused of immoral behavior and the men who killed them received reduced prison sentences of no longer than six months in most cases.

Meanwhile, both Dr. Yusuf Mansur of the Mafraq Center for Development, Economic Research and Analysis (MACDERA) and Dr. Musa Shteiwi of the Jordan Center for Social Research have had ‘the conversation’ about whether these crimes could be studied against a formula of poverty indicators. They questioned whether ‘honor’ becomes much more valuable among communities and families which have very little else to boast about. Could it be argued that women who are uneducated, unemployed, unmarried and living in a poor area are ‘cheaper’ to kill than perhaps educated, employed and married women even if they had committed a sin? Could it be that under-age, uneducated, unemployed and unmarried young men are less costly to use as perpetrators of the murder than the head of the family who, if incarcerated, would ‘cost’ the family much more. Dr. Mansur, an economist who applies economics to a wide spectrum of social issues, believed that there was a direct link between poverty and so-called honor crimes that must be studied. Meanwhile, Dr. Shteiwi, a sociologist and gender specialist, argued for the importance of pressures from society, the historical tie between women’s behavior and the family honor in the Middle East. The IRC joined ranks with these two prominent individuals in proposing a study into the economic underpinnings of so-called honor crimes to be funded by the European Delegation to Jordan under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) fund. The proposal was successful and thus the effort began.

Many who had studied ‘honor’ crimes in Jordan before and/or commented on this phenomenon had recommended changes in the laws of the country to close all loopholes and make the crime more ‘expensive’ for the perpetrator. Many have also advocated and lobbied for awareness campaigns to change the mindset of Jordanians not only towards so-called honor crimes but more importantly to the concept of honor itself and its perplexing link to the behavior of a female relative rather than being a measure of the behavior of the individual. These efforts pioneered the campaign in Jordan to eradicate the incidence of so-called honor crimes and provide the background for this study.

The authors of this study do not claim that every murder is due to poverty nor do they claim that every victim is economically powerless. What the study clearly indicates is that alongside the complicated analysis of the society’s perception of family honor, role of women and morality, there is a clear line that leads us directly to economics and even more directly to well-known poverty indicators. If the study could make a new and unique recommendation to policy makers today then it would recommend that the government pay attention to the economic empowerment of women to increase not only women’s social value but also their monetary worth. This means the government needs to pay attention to creating work opportunities and providing equal pay and benefits for women. This economic push to empower women must come hand in hand with all the necessary steps and existing recommendations to put in place all the necessary mechanisms to provide protection for women in Jordan as well as safe shelter and opportunity for women who need it.

I had the honor of working with two very noteworthy and prominent partners as well as head a very impressive research team at the IRC which worked diligently to collect and authenticate all the data for this paper despite logistical complications, traumatic and emotional conditions during interviews with perpetrators in prisons as well as a demanding schedule for quality and delivery. This study is a contribution to gender research in Jordan in the hope that it will contribute in turn to the improvement of conditions for women both here and wherever such crimes are committed against women in the name of honor.

Nermeen Murad

Director

Information and Research Center
King Hussein Foundation

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