There is an absence of alternatives for these women who desperately want to change the behaviour of their husbands or want to get out of their marriages. Many women remain silently abused in unhappy marriages for the sake of their children, knowing that once they leave the marriage, they will also lose their children. Though battered women have the right to file a complaint in court against their spouses for physical abuse, familial and societal pressures discourage them from seeking legal remedies. Jordanian law requires a married woman to obtain her husband's permission before she can get a passport. Married women do not have the legal right to transmit Jordanian citizenship to their children if their father is not Jordanian.
Social pressures discourage many women from having careers.
Nonetheless, women have pursued employment in many professions, including engineering, medicine, education and law. Women make up 14 per cent of the workforce in Jordan. Some men feel that women should not work at all because they are filling positions that unemployed males could fill. Women do receive less pay for the same services than their male counterparts, thus making it easier for an employer to hire them than men as they are willing to take less money. Women have the right to vote and there are some women in the Jordanian senate, though it is illegal for women to pursue diplomatic careers.