But Zarqa, a gritty industrial city with a high unemployment rate, is one of toughest places in Jordan, and perhaps even in the region, for women trying to tear down barriers. Even when she was off the clock, she carried a few tools in her gray purse, in case a neighbour or relative needed a bit of plumbing "first aid". She can’t charge much in her low-income neighbourhood and is expected to give discounts to relatives. And Lara excitedly unpacks Mutlaq’s graduation prize — a 40-piece professional plumbers’ tool kit — in the family living room.Only about a quarter of women in the Arab world work outside the home, the lowest percentage in the world. The family, struggling from month to month, could also use a second income.The first stop for the day is Lara’s school, where Mutlaq begins to remove an old faucet in the girls’ toilets. Plumbing is "suitable only for men, not for women," he says.
The coming months will determine if, against the odds, she can turn her bold dream into a real-life business.Back home, Mutlaq flips through her work book — a white notepad listing her recent assignments — to underscore the point. Sami, 19, is glad his mother can contribute to the family finances."Sheikh formed a cooperative of 18 female plumbers last year to help women with difficulties like launching their own business with no car or start-up funds. She can do 70 per cent of the tasks expected of a plumber, he says."This was the chance of a lifetime," she says.She still wants to open a business one day, but says the journey has already been worthwhile. She pulls a baseball cap over her headscarf and the green vest over a loose, long-sleeved T-shirt and pants. Fatmeh, 22, even joins the community outreach programme for a few months.At the local mosque down the street from Mutlaq’s house, preacher Akram al-Boureini says roles are clear in Islam: Men provide for the family and women raise children at home. Unemployment is a separate measure, with higher rates for women than men in most of the region.But by early July, she has bounced back."., a US government aid agency, to save water by preventing leakage.It has been a challenge just to come this far in an ultra-conservative community where many women don’t work at all outside the home. Mutlaq is starting to worry about the future. Mutlaq gets nothing. Her oldest brother is a hold-out, telling her women have no business being plumbers.