HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF GENDER EQUALITY IN JORDAN: FEMINIST-POSTSTRUCTURALIST EXPLORATION

This study aims to identify Jordanian youth’s perceptions of gender equality. It is a quantitative survey-based study that targets higher education students in Jordan. Valid data are obtained from 848 university students having an average age of 20. A survey, based on one scale, is designed to measure students' perceptions of gender equality. Different statistical methods are used to address differences in perceptions, the relationship between independent and dependent variables and their statistical significance (set at p ≤ 0.05). The study considers the tenets of feminist poststurctrualism to interpret its findings. The results reveal that the perceptions of female students are more gender-balanced in comparison to their male counterparts, as they draw on resistant discourses. Furthermore, the study shows that students’ perceptions prone to be less stereotypical among fourth-year students, who study in humanitarian schools, live in western Amman, belong to high social-economic status and whose mothers completed their postgraduate studies.