Arab Women and Feminist Movements in Israel are Between the Hammer of Society and the Anvil of Law - Gatha Cognition

Keywords

Arab , Discrimination , Palestinian , Rights , Women

1 . INTRODUCTION

The reality of Palestinian women in Israel does not differ from other surrounding Arab countries, as it is governed by customs, traditions and cultural heritage that regard women as followers of men and refuse to recognize their independence and their role in society (Awwad, 2008). Palestinian women suffer more than other women due to the fact that they are considered a minority, which in turn leaves them in a worse situation and make them suffer more oppression, due to discrimination and racial policies everywhere that are shaped by the state towards the Palestinian people (PCHR, 2005).

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Palestinian woman has ever since lived a life that fundamentally differ from that of the world’s other women; where Palestinian women suffered from instability in a situation of conflict and forced displacement. Such a situation was not limited to Palestinian women residing inside the Palestinian territories, whether they were in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, or within the borders of the Green Line, but it also included the Palestinian refugee women in the diasporas camps, where they were deprived of their basic and simple rights that human beings of all races and ethnicities are supposed to enjoy.

Women’s movements, federations, and associations such as the Movement of Democratic Women’s and the Association for the Advancement of Arab Women’s Culture have rejected the persecution of Palestinian women in Israel, advocated for women and exerted pressure on all parties that hinder their progress, work and advancement in society. As a result, Palestinian women participated in the political process (Rahal, 2010).

The Palestinian women have played and are still playing an important role in the economic, political, social and cultural shaping of the society. Palestinian women have participated in developing Palestinian local government and building the national economy, as well as their primary role in preparing and educating children and taking part in the educational and health fields (Al-Hourani, 2020). The Palestinian woman enjoys a strong and distinguished relationship with the land, as she belongs to the land materially, culturally and morally. For women, the land was not a mere source of livelihood through which she lives and earns their income. That seemed crystal clear in many writings that refer to the close relationship among culture, poetry, land and women (Abdo, 2009).

The aim of this research is to reveal the status of Palestinian women’s rights in Israel as they are considered to be affiliated with the Arab minority according to the Israeli classification. On the one hand, the research will also discuss women’s rights from the society’s perspective governed by customs, traditions and norms, and on the other hand, it demonstrates the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Freedom in 1992, agreements and treaties that provided for ensuring the protection of women’s rights.

In this study, the researcher relied on the descriptive analysis method in order to describe and analyze the phenomenon. The study examines three axes: The reality of Arab women in Israeli society, the impact of state laws on Palestinian women, and the civil, social, economic and political rights of Palestinian women in Israel. The main question for this article is: How far do Palestinian women in Israel enjoy their rights in light of the persecution of law and society against them?

2 . THE REALITY OF WOMAN IN PALESTINIAN SOCIETY

Palestinian women, who are citizens in the Israeli society, are considered a part of the Arab or the Palestinian national minority; such Palestinian women are distributed in various cities and villages all over Israel, including the unrecognized villages. Palestinian women in Israel suffer discrimination on all aspects, such discrimination that has been reinforced through both laws and governmental policies (WCMSPWCI, 2021).

Palestinian woman suffers due to the culture of discrimination that is established on the base of the social gender and which the domestic violence is considered one of its forms. Israeli crimes also contribute to fuel and increase such discrimination due to the growing and aggravated psychological pressures, such pressures that also cause and result decline and deterioration of economic and social conditions, the matter that leads to the increasing of the chances of women being exposed to violence considering them the weakest segment of the society which is dominated by the masculine nature. Violence toward women may occur in several forms such as forced marriages, early marriages or forcing girls to leave education, in addition to denying their legitimate right to inherit any of the parents (Ghanem, 2014).

Palestinian women have sought to change their reality and frame themselves with the aim of raising, addressing, handling and finding practical solutions for their issues independently of both men and women’s organizations and associations, the matter that prompted them to establish the feminine frameworks and consider such frameworks as feminine wings of the political organizations that fall under a humanitarian umbrella. The main purpose of forming such feminine frameworks and wings was for deepen relations and connections among women and each other in the various reigns of Palestine, and whether they were within Israel, in the West Bank or even within other countries (Abdul Hadi, 2004).

Some social changes have resulted from the process of feminine organizing, such changes have expressed women’s social and political awareness in addition to their realization of their rights, the matter that led to an increase in women activity, their ability to move on a free manner and conduct additional tasks and missions, along with an increase in their self-confidence and ability to address the discrimination practiced against them. The actual changes that occurred are related to the civil rights of woman and changing in some traditions, customs and norms (Abdu, 1994).

Two Arabic feminist organizations have been formed to be an example of fighting and struggling on both national and gendered levels. These both organizations have worked on strengthening the national identity and creating a society that addressed reactionary and enjoyed the standards of progress and openness. The first organization is an Arabic feminist organization called “Al Fanar” which has been considered the early and pioneer adopter with respect to present for discussion the crime of murdering women under the pretext and justification of protecting family honor. Al Fanar has claimed, contrary to what was usually accepted at the time, that murdering women, accused of harming family honor, does not enjoy social consensus and that ceasing of such crimes shall be tabled and present for public discussion. Al Fanar has worked for a short period of time, however, the effect of its activity on society was, and remains, ground-breaking and unprecedented for being one of the early organizations that dealt with such kind of crimes (Al Fanar report, 1994).

The second organization “Al Badil” has been formed as an alliance or a combination among feminist movements and some human rights organizations, it has appeared with the aim of fighting the phenomenon adopted by Al Fanar organization, which is murdering women on the grounds of family honor. Al Badil has aroused great interest within the Palestinian society in Israel and among governmental authorities, including police and public prosecution. Members of the organization have sought to compel the police to adopt a strict policy against the individuals who threaten to commit murder crimes on the ground of family honor. The said members demanded imposing and applying of the harshest penalties on all those who murdered women due to the accusation of harming and violating the family honor (Khamis, 2005).

There are several religions in the Israeli society. Although Jewish religion is the prevailing and dominant religion in Israel, there are 1.5 million Muslims, 177 thousand Christians and 143 thousand Druze among the Palestinians who are citizens of Israel (Gracie, 2019). Most of challenges and obstacles, suffered by woman, are not just limited to Muslim woman but also extend to include the vast majority of women, as discrimination is practiced against woman regardless to her religion. The women’s organizations and associations work on fighting and addressing such discrimination with the aim of defending woman and her rights such as the ‘Women Against Violence Association and the Flowers of Tomorrow Association’.

This in the light of the challenges that are not only limited to the Muslim woman but also extended to include Jewish, Christian and Druze women as well, and with the existence of the feminist associations that have started working since the establishment of Israel in 1948 and continued until today. Such associations have used to address discrimination practiced against women, as most of the purposes and objectives of these associations are focused on working for fighting injustice, oppression, repression and persecution existed and applied in the Israeli society whether against Israeli women or Arab women. Political and economic changes and local and regional changes have also contributed to unite the working efforts of the feminist organizations that have become working for defending women and their rights regardless of religion (Zoubi, 2016).

Despite all the efforts made by women and feminist associations and unions in order to achieve equality between the role of both women and men, Israeli society is still a male-dominated society. When woman is mentioned, her participation in struggle, in particular, is ignored, knowing that the Palestinian woman has participated, along with man, in all the stages of Palestinian national struggle (Rahal, 2010).

3 . THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL SECURITY ON PALESTINIAN WOMAN

The Arab Palestinian woman is affected by the policies practiced by the state toward the Arabic minority in general and the following comes on top of such policies:

1. Laws which threaten to reduce the democratic space for Arabs in Israel and seek to violate the Arab citizens’ right to equality and freedom of opinion, expression and speech in regard with the political issues.
2. The package of racial laws recently passed by the Knesset which the Nation-State Bill (or the Nationality Bill) comes on the top thereof, such law was quite a big and strong shock for in political, legal and juridical circles, however, the official reactions have come to be disappointing and have left much to be desired.
3. Despite the opposing status for this law by the majority of Arab countries, this opposing status have not gone beyond the expression of concern and condemnation and have not translated into actions that could address and restrain the Israeli laws that violate international laws and rules given the racist laws they enact (Ghunaim and Bakir, 2019).

This law’s aims that all assets, capabilities, institutions and democratic nature of the state to be subjected to its Jewish identity and to perpetuate racial discrimination against Arabic nationalism to a large extent (Ibn Bari, 2017).

Enacting such a law has promoted the racial discrimination against Palestinians as they represent Arab nationalism, a nationalism that conflicts with Jewish nationalism, such discrimination that shall affect Arabs in general and women in particular, as discrimination against women is actually existed whether or not the woman is Arab.

Israel has adopted the policy of isolation and alienation that threatened the status of Arab women in Israel and affects their right to dignity and equality. Israel has worked hard to keep Arab women away from the scene, to push them to the sidelines of public space and to reduce the space of freedom granted to them, in addition to some of the policies that have been shown by dealing with the Arab minority in general, such policies that were marked by incitement and discrimination which all were for the purpose of coercion and force them to leave the country (Ibn Bari, 2017).

4 . THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN WOMAN IN ISRAEL

In the declaration of independence of the state of Israel, full equality has been declared as well as no discrimination due to religion, race or sex (Zahalka et al., 2006). Despite the marked improvement in the status of women, such declaration is still out of fully application on the ground, as women still suffer inequality with men, such inequality that including, but not limited to, some working places that prefer men over women in regard with appointing and employing, women wages are also less than men’s although both do the same work (Shawahna, 2015), in addition to the discrimination practiced against Palestinian women in Israel in case they would work in the same place with the Israeli Jewish women.

Islam has established equality between man and woman in all aspects and fields of life, honored woman and gave her all her full personal, economic and social rights through the True Islamic religion and its noble law (Sharia). Islam has commanded to deal with woman through gentleness, kindness and softness which is out of caring and honoring for her and not out of belittling her or degrading her dignity, as Islam came in order to take woman out on nothingness to existence. In his book, God Almighty has commanded to treat woman kindly and for good and mentioned her on best image, even one of Quran’s chapters (Surah) has been named after women (Surat Al Nesaa) due to divine grace and care enjoyed by women. The messenger of God has also commanded honoring women and described them with fragile flasks (Al Arkabi, 2014).

It is worth noting that the Jewish religion (the Torah) permitted polygamy and did not make it forbidden. However, the prevailing law in Israel prohibited polygamy and considered it in violation of the law, and imposed on the perpetrator a penalty of up to five years, yet the phenomenon of polygamy is still prevalent throughout the country. Specifically, in the Negev and Beersheba, and to avoid punishment, some people may resort to divorce the first wife, issue a divorce certificate, marry another woman, and then remarry his first wife without informing the official authorities (WCMSPWCI, 2021).

There are some violations in Israeli law of labor accompanied with lack of awareness and knowledge by the working Arabic women of their rights, the matter that leads to the exploitation of women and violation of their rights. Mostly, discrimination is occurred on the base of gender out of that women are considered cheap and temporary labor force (Hamdan and Nicola, 2015). However, the status of women in Israel is considered fairly well in respect of work because they do not have to fight in order to be allowed to go out to the labor market except that there still are some jobs where the role of Palestinian women therein is very limited compared with other Arab women such as the field of media, press and journalism (Abu Bakr, 2014).

The status of woman within the Israeli labor market is considered very low and even degraded not because of woman does not want to work but due to policies of discrimination adopted by successive Israeli governments toward Arabs and Arab women and their constant refusal to invest resources of the state through establishing industrial zones and improving infrastructure within the Arab regains which led to a sever retreat in the presence of job opportunities, that are suitable for women, within their regions and villages (Paules, 2008).

Given the considerable and significant role played by woman and in line with joining Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a human rights document has been prepared that has been considered a result of the work efforts of the Palestinian feminist organizations, a reflection of the protection of Palestinian woman’s rights, a promotion to her status and a preservation of her earnings. This document has asserted the necessity of the Palestinian woman to enjoy all her civil rights and not to abuse her and that the state shall guarantee and protect these rights and that no one shall be allowed to arbitrarily deprive woman from her rights, the necessity of granting woman her right of expression and speech and equality with man before law and court, in addition to her right to enjoy the full legal capacity and nor prevent her from executing contracts and managing her properties (MWAGUPW, 2012).

In the field of education which is considered a basic right for woman. Palestinian woman has established and solidified her status and made her presence felt in regard with education by achieving remarkable excellence in this field that made her prove that she is not less important than man, however, this progress has not reflected in all fields of life as required, as woman still suffers from society’s pejorative attitude towards her, the attitude that is not commensurate with her achievements in the various fields (Zaidat, 2019). Thus, due to the fact that Palestinian Arab women is a member of the Arab society, it has not discriminated against her only in her home or among her family, but rather in Israeli society in general which put a stranglehold on her.

Most of families, within the Arab society in Israel, support woman’s education and her right to go out for work (Dauod, 2016). However, this support is lower in some families within the three religious denominations (Muslims, Christians and Druze) particularly in the groups that defined and classified themselves as religious groups and individuals. In contrast, there are some religious fanatics from the Islamic movement in Israel who are considered fanatical in regard with issues concerning woman, however, they stress and insist on the issue of women’s work, given its importance with an emphasis on the need for gender segregation and building and establishing girls-only places whether for study or for work (Dauod, 2016).

One form of persecution of women, in the field of education, is forcing her, by her family, to study the educational branches that would only enable her working in the same field of education, whereas there is a very big number of women who hold teaching certificates while Ministry of Education is no longer able to accommodate them due to their large numbers, the matter that has left an impact in two directions, first thereof is the difficulty of providing job opportunities for this huge number of women in the field of education and the second is the low presence of women in the other specialization within the labor market because society’s perception and view for Arab women limits her to work within fixed shifts, fixed hours and within Arab towns and villages only (Hakroush, 2018). Whereas the solution of the dilemma of those who hold teaching certificates would be going to Jewish schools with the aim of appointing the surplus thereof, however, the proportion of the Arab teachers in the Jewish schools is considered very little (Fuchs, 2018).

5 . SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS OF PALESTINIAN WOMAN

Granting woman her economic, social and financial rights is considered a significant matter for being one of the factors that contributes in development and progress of the stare. Among the economic rights, her right to own properties, whereas the state shall promote woman’s right to her property and guarantee and secure equality between woman and man in regard with such right by granting her the right of disposing her property on a free manner and without imposing any restrictions on her except within the limits of the law. Woman’s right to own properties is also considered one of the basic matters that is connected with woman’s economic security and safety and her social, political, legal and cultural condition, in addition to that granting woman such right would reduce violence practiced against her which considered one of the violations to human rights, the matter that leads to enabling woman and promoting her status and situation and her positive participation in society (Abu Muslim, 2018).

Inheritance falls under woman’s financial rights that are guaranteed for her by both Islamic Sharia and law. God Almighty has commanded justice and granting women their right to inheritance and not to deprive women of such right, whether such inheritance was from one of the woman’s parents or from her husband, women’s right to inheritance has been considered a great and significant matter by God Almighty. In order to assert this right, God Almighty said: For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much, an obligatory share (AL-quran AL-karem, Surat AL-nesaa). And we cannot ignore the fact that there are some families who deprive women from this right so that the inheritance can only be divided among males (Ghunaim, 2020).

Arab and local authorities within Israel suffer from discrimination in regard with budgets, corruption, mismanagement and maladministration, in addition to failure to perform the tasks assigned to them to the fullest extent. The Arab woman within Israel works hard in order to change her life and join work would enable her achieving self-fulfillment, however, the matter of the lack of childcare centers stands as an obstacle in front of her and here comes the role of the local authorities, which must create conditions and work environment that are suitable for women which, in turn, to reduce unemployment among educated women, whereas uneducated women go to work in factories within Jewish regions or go to work in the field of agriculture with very minimized wages (Daoud, 2017).

Policies adopted by employers, towards working Arab women, are inconsistent with the Israeli Women’s Employment Law of 1954, which is supposed to guarantee fair dealing with women in the workplace and guarantee them some rights related to pregnancy, maternity, compensation, and salaries (Rabina, 2013).

All of these policies and practices applied to Arab women in Israel by employers and managers aim to exclude women from the labor market, which in turn causes frustration for them, specifically for women who have applied for employment and are still waiting for a response to them, and the existence of some women who are waiting for an opportunity to work without submitting an application to do so for any party or entity, in addition to the fact that continuous discrimination between the both genders in the labor market leads to the non-involvement of women in it, as women may reach the stage of retirement or prefer to devote themselves to the burdens of home and take care of their children instead of remaining in a job where, therein, she cannot achieve self-fulfillment and prove her abilities (Shabaneh, 2006).

Arab women in Israel face great challenges in the field of work that appear through societal obstacles and preconceptions taken against women’s participation in work, and also appear through the low estimated wages for women, and these things, all together, made the proportion of Arab women’s participation in the work one of the lowest proportions of women’s participation in the world. However, these challenges, in addition to the fundamental changes that occurred in Palestinian society, contributed to encouraging women to work and adopting the policy of openness, in order to limit, even to a small extent, the woman’s retention on the margins of work and progress (Dauod, 2017).

6 . POLITICAL RIGHTS OF PALESTINIAN WOMAN

The participation of Palestinian women, who are citizens of Israel, in political life, is considered an urgent necessity, with the aim of their participation in the comprehensive and sustainable development process of Palestinian society. Despite the association of Palestinian women with the Palestinian cause and participation in the struggle and in national action, however, this participation was not stable and remained between the ebb and flow, whereas Palestinian society carries a great legacy of customs and traditions and social and cultural heritage and legacies that often link the role of women only to reproduction, marriage and concern for the family and does not recognize them for political and social participation (Judeh, 2017).

The social and political participation of Palestinian Arab women, who are citizens of Israel, and despite the social, economic and political changes that contributed to their development, and expanded their activities in the field of education and feminine social work, however, their participation is still limited and insignificant, specifically in relation with their assumption of status related to decision making, whether in parliamentary elections or local councils, and this puts us in front of the fact that the changes that have taken place on the status of Arab women inside Israel have not produced finding practical solutions to the fundamental issues related to women’s social and economic rights on the one hand, and their participation in the decision making process on the other hand (Naeem, 2015).

Palestinian women participate in political life without restrictions and have the same rights on an equal basis with men, and they have assumed public status in the state, where various laws and treaties have ensured a set of rights for women and emphasized the need to ensure and protect these rights and not to prevent and suppress women and object their enjoyment of their rights (Shtayyeh, 2012 ).

Opinions and points of view are different between society and law, whereas Israeli society is a patriarchal and authoritarian society that relies on the superiority of males over females, and perpetuates the inferior view of women and marginalizes them like any other societies (Daoud, 2012). The same applies to the Palestinian Arab society that is overwhelmed by the patriarchal male-dominating tendency that does not recognize women’s rights and if recognizes them, it would be within a certain framework that revolves around maintaining the authority of men, because women cannot leave the home and go to work without obtaining the approval of a man, whether her father or her husband, and if obtained, such permission would be restricted to only certain areas and fields, the matter that constitutes an obstacle to the movement and progress of women, and limits their participation in the political process and assuming status that enable them to participate in the decision making process (Shtayyeh, 2012).

Despite all the marginalization experienced by Arab women in the political process, the phenomenon of women’s participation in local politics has gained public approval in recent years, as the processes of change experienced by the Arab minority, at all levels, have affected the issue of women’s representation in the political process, and this was also due to that women no longer accept to bow and give up their right to work and assume important status in the state. Women’s activity and political representation can be increased by encouraging women to continue in local political action in Israel; as this would help women not to accept the pressures practiced toward the women (David, 2005).

The political rights of women in Palestine still need many legal, social and economic motives at sometimes, in order to contribute to keeping pace with development in the world and in some Arab countries that tend to support positive discrimination for women, the most important recommendations are those that recommend the Palestinian legislator to work to raise quotas by modifying election laws that limit their participation by a certain percentage or through a system that ensures the hierarchy of women’s names in electoral lists in order to achieve positive discrimination that works to protect women’s rights to political participation in order not to limit political participation of women or restrict this participation as they shall participate as much as men.

Regarding the role of women in partisan work, it is a somewhat limited role, for several reasons, including the nature and structure of Palestinian society that has been associated with customs, traditions, patriarchal authority that restrict women and control their movement and freedom of beliefs, in addition to the political party itself that entrusted women with specific tasks that are often supporting man or emanating from the nature of the party’s vision of the reality of Palestinian women, who are most often behind the man and affiliated with him, as she cannot bear the burdens of partisan work on her own, and she always desperately needs protection from the man. Also, the woman herself has imposed some restrictions on herself and became convinced of the role entrusted to her and did not seek to change her status or break the stereotype for her, in addition to some economic and political reasons and circumstances that contributed to the retreat of the woman’s role in partisan work (Al Shafea and Awad 2010).

Arab women in Israel are still suffering from the great contradiction that appears by joining the convention and international treaties that emphasize respecting and ensuring women’s rights, whether in terms of personal, political, financial, or social rights, or their right to work, education, and access to their inheritance, which is guaranteed by both divine laws and man-made laws on the one hand, and the lack of work or actual application of these agreements and laws on the other, which makes joining the aforementioned convention and international treaties a mere words on paper because it did not come into effect with regard to the conditions and status of women, because nothing has changed for them, and if a change occurs, it is only a small percentage.

The law has allowed women to participate in politics, but in reality women face many challenges due to internal factors and factors associated with the existence of Israeli rulings and provisions. Political participation of women is still elitist and limited to a small number of women, in addition to affirming and consolidating some traditions and customs that enhance and promote discrimination against women and increase oppressing and rejecting them in society, in contrast to the constitution and the agreements that have largely emphasized the need for non-discrimination against women and approach to gender equality between them and men in society.

Due to this great contradiction, which represents and poses danger and injustice to the woman and her enjoyment of her rights, the researcher proposes resorting to and applying religion and the law (Sharia) because they prohibit injustice and discrimination between human beings on the basis of sex, gender, color, or race. If the religion would be applied, all obstacles facing women would disappear and there would be no need to import agreements that protect women ostensibly only, in issues including, but not limited to, the issue of inheritance.

7 . RESULTS

The article reached a set of results, including:

1. The suffering of the Palestinian Arab woman due to the nature of the society in which she lives, as Arab societies often adhere to their customs, traditions, and social and cultural heritage and legacies even if at the expense of anything else, and because Palestinian society is one of these Arab societies. Arab women suffer within Palestinian society from the complex of patriarchal authority and male-dominating tendency, which impedes their enjoyment of their rights guaranteed by the law and what put them between the rock of society and the hard place of law.
2. Arab women bear the burdens of dependency and belonging to Arab nationalism and the Arab minority on the one hand, and the burdens of racial discrimination against Arabs in general and against women in particular, which affects their enjoyment of their fundamental, basic, political, social and economic rights guaranteed to them by the fundamental and basic laws, international conventions, covenants and treaties.
3. The local authorities in Arab villages and cities bear part of the responsibility in regard with violations to women’s rights to work, and affect their role in the labor market, because they do not fulfill their responsibilities towards the Arab minority on the required manner, specifically with regard to providing employment opportunities for women, and providing appropriate conditions for women’s work in terms of providing public transportation and providing the necessary and required care for children if any.
4. The participation of women in the labor market and in the political process and participation in political parties, and with all the progress made by women as a result of the fundamental changes that have occurred in the region and the status and role of women, but the proportion of their participation is still low at the time compared to other countries, but rather is considered one of the lowest proportions.

8 . RECOMMENDATIONS

The article recommends the following:

1. The participation of women in the labor market and in the political process and participation in political parties, and with all the progress made by women as a result of the fundamental changes that have occurred in the region and the status and role of women, but the proportion of their participation is still low at the time compared to other countries, but rather is considered one of lowest proportions.
2. I recommend studying international conventions, extracting the entrenched rights of women, the system of guarantees thereof and the extent of their effectiveness, and clarifying the legal impact and effect of women in international conventions, and then seeing the compatibility of national legislation in Israel with international conventions guaranteeing women’s rights.
3. The need for women to study scientific and human specialties, as it is not enough to focus on specializations of education with the aim of working in the field of teaching and being appointed in the Ministry of Education only, whereas scientific specializations have a lower unemployment proportion among women than other majors.
4. The necessity of improving the status of Arab women in political participation and parliamentary representation, and improving their participation in parties, with the aim of defending women’s rights in particular, defending the rights of the Arab minority in general and addressing racial discrimination against them.

9 . CONCLUSION

The Palestinian woman, despite her participation in various political, social and economic fields, yet she still suffers from a set of challenges, obstacles, and pressures that aim to thwart her, reduce her resolve, and weaken her abilities to work, give, and innovate, all because of the domination of customs and traditions and this despite the presence of the pioneers and the superior women with the ability to accomplish and create.

Apart from politics of the state that is dominated by racial discrimination and the lack of equity for the Arab minority in general and women in particular, women can change their status by themselves, even if such change would be tiny, it would be still better than nothing. Women can look towards obtaining higher degrees and going towards higher education in scientific specializations such as engineering, computer and medical specializations, as these specializations are able to secure more job opportunities than others, and they shall not only focus on studying education majors, in addition to the need to master the Hebrew language and not be only satisfied with the Arabic language, so that they can work outside the borders of Arab towns.       

Tables

Figures

Conflict of Interest

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

References