PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) # 469, Feb. 5, 2010
‘ARAB WOMEN WORKERS NEED NOT APPLY’
A recent report from Israel’s National Insurance Institute showed that half of all Arab families in Israel are classified as poor compared with just 14 per cent of Jewish families.
Yuval Steinitz, the finance minister, told a conference on employment discrimination this month that the failure of Arab women to participate in the workforce was damaging Israel’s economy. Eighteen per cent of Arab women work, and only half of them full time, compared with at least 55 per cent of Jewish women. He attributed the low employment rate to “cultural obstacles, traditional frameworks and the belief that Arab women have to remain in their home towns”, adding that such restrictions were characteristic of all Arab societies.
But researchers and women’s groups pointed out that employment of Arab women in Israel is lower than almost anywhere in the Arab world, including such employment black spots for women as Saudi Arabia and Oman.
“Most Arab women want to work, including a large number of female graduates, but the government has refused to tackle the many and severe obstacles that have been put in their way,” said Sawsan Shukha of Women Against Violence, a Nazareth-based organisation.
A survey this month reveals that 83 per cent of Israeli businesses in the main professions – including advertising, law, banking, accountancy and the media – admitted to being opposed to hiring Arab graduates, whether men or women.
A study by the Bank of Israel published this month suggested additional reasons for the high levels of poverty among Arab families. It showed that Arab men were typically forced into retirement in their early 40s, at least a decade before Israel’s Jewish workers and workers in Europe and the United States. They are rapidly being replaced for physically demanding labouring jobs by Third World workers who are paid less than the minimum wage.
Adapted from “Israel’s Arab Women Workers Need Not Apply” by Jonathan Cook,
published on line at: http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0438.htm#Top
Distributed by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)
WWW.PAJUMONTREAL.ORG