Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in Jordan

Based on fieldwork with Iraqi women who married and then divorced Jordanian men and are now registered refugees in Jordan, this study explores the relationship between marriage and immigration laws and refugee status for Iraqis in the country. The legal systems effectively fence the divorced women i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Susan MacDougall
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: York University Libraries 2012-11-01
Series:Refuge
Online Access:https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/36087
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author Susan MacDougall
author_facet Susan MacDougall
author_sort Susan MacDougall
collection DOAJ
description Based on fieldwork with Iraqi women who married and then divorced Jordanian men and are now registered refugees in Jordan, this study explores the relationship between marriage and immigration laws and refugee status for Iraqis in the country. The legal systems effectively fence the divorced women in, with child custody laws preventing them from leaving and citizenship laws preventing them from securing long-term residency. Jordan’s citizenship and immigration laws collude with family law traditions that assume women’s dependence on their husbands to magnify divorced Iraqi women’s social exclusion. As Iraqi refugees extend their stays in the country, Jordan’s “guests” and their needs have become part of the domestic social landscape; structural refusal to acknowledge their presence contributes to their isolation and invisibility. This case suggests that citizenship laws that differentiate between men and women create gendered refugees as well as gendered citizens.
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spelling doaj.art-114e824ccf9f46578d42ed281b27860b2022-12-21T20:56:18ZengYork University LibrariesRefuge0229-51131920-73362012-11-0128110.25071/1920-7336.36087Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in JordanSusan MacDougallBased on fieldwork with Iraqi women who married and then divorced Jordanian men and are now registered refugees in Jordan, this study explores the relationship between marriage and immigration laws and refugee status for Iraqis in the country. The legal systems effectively fence the divorced women in, with child custody laws preventing them from leaving and citizenship laws preventing them from securing long-term residency. Jordan’s citizenship and immigration laws collude with family law traditions that assume women’s dependence on their husbands to magnify divorced Iraqi women’s social exclusion. As Iraqi refugees extend their stays in the country, Jordan’s “guests” and their needs have become part of the domestic social landscape; structural refusal to acknowledge their presence contributes to their isolation and invisibility. This case suggests that citizenship laws that differentiate between men and women create gendered refugees as well as gendered citizens.https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/36087
spellingShingle Susan MacDougall
Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in Jordan
Refuge
title Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in Jordan
title_full Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in Jordan
title_fullStr Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in Jordan
title_full_unstemmed Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in Jordan
title_short Refugees from Inside the System: Iraqi Divorcees in Jordan
title_sort refugees from inside the system iraqi divorcees in jordan
url https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/36087
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