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Book part
Publication date: 15 October 2013

Channa Zaccai

Through life stories and the unique lens of military combat service, this study analyzes how Israeli Jewish women construct their relationship to the Jewish nation-state.

Abstract

Purpose

Through life stories and the unique lens of military combat service, this study analyzes how Israeli Jewish women construct their relationship to the Jewish nation-state.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative study establishes a theoretical relationship between gender and the nation, including concepts such as the nation-state, the public/private divide, Jewish womanhood, and militarization in Israel. It utilizes in-depth semi-structured life story interviews with 17 Israeli Jewish women, who served in combat roles in the Israeli military.

Findings

These women demonstrate ambivalent and gendered narratives of sacrifice and success and of loyalty and resistance as they transgress and comply with the idea of the national Jewish home. They reveal a strong desire for national belonging that can be seen as an attempt to challenge the gendered public/private divide and secure their status as qualified citizens.

Social implications

Women’s integration in the military is a political issue in Israel where liberal and radical feminists, religious, bureaucratic, and other civil groups are pushing for contrasting demands. I engage in this debate by emphasizing the voices of women soldiers.

Originality/value

Instead of focusing on subjugation and marginalization owing to the unsolvable conundrum of partial military inclusion leading to (partial) political and societal exclusion, I offer an analysis of military combat service as a meaning-making practice providing a new understanding of Israeli women’s relationship to the Jewish nation-state.

Details

Gendered Perspectives on Conflict and Violence: Part A
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-110-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 June 2014

Sibylle Heilbrunn, Khaled Abu-Asbeh and Muhammed Abu Nasra

The purpose of this article is to explore the difficulties facing entrepreneurs in three groups of women in Israel: immigrant women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), women

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to explore the difficulties facing entrepreneurs in three groups of women in Israel: immigrant women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), women belonging to the Palestinian Israeli minority and Jewish Israeli women belonging to the majority population. Relying on the stratification approach, the authors investigate the extent to which labor market, resource and women-specific disadvantages constrain women's entrepreneurship within these three groups.

Design/methodology/approach

The target research population consisted of 477 women entrepreneurs who operated businesses between 2009 and 2010. Using systematic sampling, the authors surveyed 148 FSU immigrant women business owners, 150 Jewish Israeli women business owners and 170 Palestinian Israeli women business owners, using a comprehensive questionnaire administered in the entrepreneurs' native language.

Findings

The authors found similarities and differences between the three groups as to their ability to handle difficulties deriving from labor market, resource and women-specific disadvantages. Overall, the authors found that Palestinian women entrepreneurs have relatively more difficulties than the other two groups.

Research limitations/implications

Women entrepreneurs' socio-political status within stratified social realities imposes constraints on their economic activities. Further research should investigate policies, which could assist in overcoming these constraints taking into consideration similarities and differences between specific groups.

Originality/value

In addition to shedding light on the impact of socio-political environmental circumstances on women entrepreneurs in a particular country, the authors believe that applying the social stratification approach is especially valuable at the intersection of minority status, gender and entrepreneurship.

Details

International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-6266

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Article
Publication date: 27 November 2018

Mark Scott Rosenbaum, Tali Seger-Guttmann and Ofir Mimran

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of customer discomfort in service settings when employees and customers who share social incompatibilities, stemming from war…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of customer discomfort in service settings when employees and customers who share social incompatibilities, stemming from war, nationalism, religious differences or terrorism, work together in service settings.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors engage in triangulation research to understand how Israeli Arabs and Jews experience comfort/discomfort in services. Study 1 uses an experimental design to show how comfort differs when Israeli Jews work with Arabs and Jews in three different service settings. Study 2 employs survey methodology to explore how comfort differs among Israeli Arabs when they work with either an Arab or a Jewish employee. Study 3 uses grounded theory methodology to provide a theoretical framework that explains reasons for customer discomfort occurrence between Israel’s Arabs and Jews, its impact on customers’ attitudes and behaviors and suggestions for increasing comfort.

Findings

Israeli Arabs and Jews express various feelings of discomfort when working with each other, and Druze, in service settings. Israeli Jews express higher levels of discomfort when working with Arabs than vice versa, while Israeli Arabs express discomfort when working with Druze employees. Five strategies for increasing customer comfort are defined and developed.

Research limitations/implications

Social incompatibilities prevent many consumers and employees from experiencing comfort during service exchanges; however, managers can alleviate some of the factors that exacerbate customer discomfort.

Practical implications

Managers need to realize that customer discomfort leads to place avoidance and thus should implement strategies to assuage it.

Social implications

Unabated service situations that result in customer discomfort may lead to customer ill-being, including fear.

Originality/value

This study is the first to explore customer discomfort due to social incompatibilities in depth.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. 31 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 January 2022

Avi Kay and Moshe Sharabi

This article aims to provide an examination of the impact of Jewish religious tradition on attitudes toward life domains among Jewish Israeli women. This is the first study of…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to provide an examination of the impact of Jewish religious tradition on attitudes toward life domains among Jewish Israeli women. This is the first study of importance of life-domains among women in the ultra-Orthodox community: the fastest growing population in Israel. This population exhibits a unique occupational pattern in which women are the primary economic actors. As women are transitioning into more central occupational and economic players throughout the world, this research has both theoretical and practical implications.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 567 employed Jewish Israeli women (309 secular, 138 traditional and 120 ultra-Orthodox) completed a survey about relative importance of life domains. Responses were analyzed via mean-comparison tests, ANOVA and regression analysis.

Findings

Surprisingly, religiosity was associated with higher lower work centrality. Work centrality was the highest among ultra-Orthodox women, and family centrality the lowest. Centrality of religion increased and centrality of leisure decreased with religiosity. No differences emerged regarding centrality of community.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of this study is that attitudes toward life domains are based on one-time responses to one question. With that, the psychometric characteristics of the measure and its wide-spread use indicate its acceptability and applicability for the issue studied.

Practical implications

The data point to changes in the attitudes of ultra-Orthodox women toward life-domains. Those changes and the increased presence of these women at the workplace challenge both organizational and community leaders to reexamine how to best react to and benefit from the above.

Social implications

Ultra-orthodox society is a fundamentalist, enclave society that has, generally, been able to retain traditional internal social and familial patterns until now. However, increased exposure of community members – and particularly women – to a variety of organizations and individuals operating in them, may be contributing to changes in attitudes of those women regarding their traditional social and familial roles.

Originality/value

This study closes gaps in research examining the impact of religion and of gender on work attitudes. It does so among women in the fastest growing population of Israel, that exhibit a unique occupational pattern that can contribute to both theoreticians and policy planners regarding implications of the transition of women to more central economic roles.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 August 2008

Susan Weiss

This chapter describes how women who work as pleaders in the Israeli rabbinic courts try to decipher the dissonance between their canonical texts and their modern sensibilities…

Abstract

This chapter describes how women who work as pleaders in the Israeli rabbinic courts try to decipher the dissonance between their canonical texts and their modern sensibilities, dividing the interpretive strategies that the pleaders employ to that end into three different categories. The chapter then explores the implications of these findings with respect to theories of agency, feminist consciousness, how law is read, and identity politics (multiculturalism), as well as with respect to issues of value, power, and divorce reform.

Details

Advancing Gender Research from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-027-8

Book part
Publication date: 20 September 2014

Noa Milman

Taking an intersectional approach, this chapter makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the study of mothers’ movements in the context of social welfare cutbacks in…

Abstract

Taking an intersectional approach, this chapter makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the study of mothers’ movements in the context of social welfare cutbacks in Israel. I argue that the political use of the maternal identity provides an important cultural resource to women’s social movements, yet all women cannot access this advantage equally. By adding an intersectional perspective to the literature on women’s movements and media debates, this empirical study shows that the ability of different groups of women to politically mobilize their maternal identity in the news is impacted by their class and racial backgrounds. I focus on Israel as an ambiguous case that reflects both the political relevance of maternal identity as mobilized by different political actors, as well as the intersectional dynamics of marginalization of women’s movements within contentious media debates about austerity policies. Using critical discourse analysis, I analyzed 268 newspaper articles that discuss the Israeli Single Mothers’ Movement, a welfare rights movement of low-income women of color (Mizrahi). I find two competing frames converging across the newspapers analyzed: the first draws on a nationalist discourse of the “mother of the nation” to present a positive image of a heroic “mothers’ movement”; the second draws on racist and sexist images to negatively frame activists as a “Mizrahi movement” of undeserving poor mothers. I show how the contested construction of the Single Mothers’ Movement in the news media is directly connected to hegemonic Israeli discourse on motherhood and ethnicity, and demonstrate how this shapes the movement’s public image and its political and feminist value.

Details

Intersectionality and Social Change
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-105-3

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 July 2010

Marjorie C. Feinson and Tamar Ben Dror

Purpose and methodology – Many adult women struggle with serious eating problems (EPs) and obesity is increasing, yet, little is known about the origins of EPs, which often begin…

Abstract

Purpose and methodology – Many adult women struggle with serious eating problems (EPs) and obesity is increasing, yet, little is known about the origins of EPs, which often begin in childhood. Personal Narratives with 25 Israeli Jewish women in recovery from EPs explore (a) types of childhood experiences, (b) the connection between childhood experiences and subsequent EPs, and (c) why food!

Findings a.Analyses of personal narratives uncover a broad range of emotionally abusive experiences in childhood (CEA) including continuous criticism about body shape and weight, emotional neglect and abandonment, death or illness in the family in the absence of a nurturing adult, conflict and tension surrounding parental divorce or dysfunctional marriage, geographic dislocation, and aftermath of the Holocaust.b.Interviewees explicitly identified CEA as the cause of their turning to food for comfort in childhood and subsequently developing lifelong EPs.c.Why food! It was easily accessible, its sweetness took away the pain - temporarily, children replicated parents' unhealthy relationship with food, it was abundant and central in Jewish cultural, ethnic and religious traditions.

Research Implications – This research documents the critical contribution of emotionally abusive experiences in childhood to the development of EPs and confirms the need for additional research.

Practical Implications – The findings warrant a shift in policies and practices to address the role of emotional abuse in the development and maintenance of EPs. Moreover, policies focused on obesity, particularly among youth, need to recognize the contribution of CEA – in addition to poor dietary choices and lack of exercise.

Details

Interactions and Intersections of Gendered Bodies at Work, at Home, and at Play
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-944-2

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2017

Helena Desivilya, Dalit Yassour Borochowitz, Shalom Bouknik, Geke Kalovski, Ilana Lavy and Liora Ore

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of academic staff on issues of diversity and social schisms: capturing their perceptions of the complex relations at an…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of academic staff on issues of diversity and social schisms: capturing their perceptions of the complex relations at an academic campus positioned in an intricate sociopolitical context. It also explored how the faculty’s construal of diversity and social divisions inform their educational practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed a qualitative approach using grounded theory methodology. Data collection was based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 diverse faculty members from different departments in a Northern Israeli college. The interviews were transcribed and processed into main themes and categories.

Findings

The findings revealed two main themes: “Diversity awareness” depicting recognition and sensitivity to the complex social context in the college, strategies of directly engaging with it, downplaying or overlooking the intricacies, and “Practices” describing the practical translations of the educational credos into teaching practice. Both themes reflected a myriad of faculty voices.

Social implications

The study illuminated the challenges posed by social schisms, inequalities, and diversity for the faculty who need to grapple with the intricacies on a daily basis. More open dialogue and debates by the protagonists are needed to increase awareness of diversity and experimenting with different ways of addressing the intricacies.

Originality/value

Empirical evidence of the organizational actors’ predicaments, their diverse patterns of coping with intricacies, and the factors underlying their choices contribute to the body of knowledge on managing diversity in vivo by real women and men with different backgrounds and experiences.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1981

Harriet Hartman and Moshe Hartman

The contribution of immigrants in general to the labour force of the receiving country and the ramifications (positive and negative) of this contribution have received a fair…

Abstract

The contribution of immigrants in general to the labour force of the receiving country and the ramifications (positive and negative) of this contribution have received a fair amount of attention, in the past, since many immigrant policies are formulated after considering the potential contribution or damage immigrants can make to the economic development of the country and selectively regulating the type of immigrants allowed to enter accordingly. Most of this attention has been given to immigrants in general, although subgroups of immigrants differ greatly in their own particular needs.

Details

Equal Opportunities International, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0261-0159

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2009

Aaron Cohen and Efrat Liani

The purpose of this paper is to present studies on how the demands of work impact the family – the work‐family conflict (WFC) – and how the demands of family life impinge on the…

2100

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present studies on how the demands of work impact the family – the work‐family conflict (WFC) – and how the demands of family life impinge on the workplace –the family‐work conflict (FWC). The goal of this paper is to examine the antecedents of the WFC and the FWC in a different cultural setting–Israeli health care administration.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from a sample of 168 female employees in two public hospitals in Israel.

Findings

The findings showed a strong relationship between work attitudes, particularly job satisfaction, and the two conflict variables. A higher level of job satisfaction was related to lower levels of WFC and FWC. The relationship of organizational support to the two conflict variables was weak and not in the expected direction.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on a sample taken from one occupation, dominated by public employees.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that an effective way to reduce the WFC and the FWC is to create positive attitudes among employees regarding their job and work setting.

Originality/value

The paper examines common antecedents of WFC and FWC such as background and role variables, together with two antecedents rarely considered in the literature – organizational support for work‐related activities and organizational support for non‐work activities.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 38 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

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