Today is Mother’s Day in the Arab World, and an opportunity for children to show some thanks and appreciation for the work and sacrifices their mothers have shown over the years.
It’s also a chance for retailers to make a tidy profit, and across the region special promotions and campaigns market the importance of appreciating mom by buying gifts – of dishwashers, beauty products and cooking utensils.
For some Jordanians, however, the advertising swirl around the special day has left a sour taste – with many accusing companies of pushing a stereotypical and damaging view of women on the public.
“Many marketing campaigns include images of women only as housewives, as if mothers are servants of the household, not family members who work and help in generating an income,” 20-year-old Yusra Arafeh told The Jordan Times.
Other interviewees said that the advertisements were offensive and degraded the role of women to that of machines, fit only to cook, clean and bring up children.
“‘Spoil her’ by buying her a dishwasher. It is as if her comfort is only about exempting her from household work such as dishwashing and cooking,” Dima Karadsheh, a gender advisor at CARE International in Jordan, said. “This belittles mothers’ roles.”
On Facebook, the post also garnered significant criticism - although many of the comments were deleted by the page admin.
A board member of the Jordanian chamber of commerce told the Jordan Times that gifts of household appliances “honour” mothers because they lighten their workload.
