Arab Women in Politics - Haaretz

2/7/2019 Haaretz.
Com
Only five Arab women have ever served in Israel's

Knesset. And it's not getting any better
The long-delayed birth of Arab women’s political activism still
faces major obstacles, from institutional discrimination to deep
social conservatism. For local elections that's changing – but not
in the legislature that governs our lives
Anwar Mhajne | Feb. 7, 2019 | 12:27 PM
With the Israeli Knesset elections approaching, the question

of representation is ever more central to the political debates among Arab
citizens of Israel.
Even though the non-Jewish population in Israel constitutes about 21% of the
total (the vast majority of whom are Palestinian - both Christian and
Muslim), their representation in the Knesset at the 2015 elections was only
15% (18 Arab MKs) in total. Five men out of those 18 Arab MKs represented
Zionist parties.
Even further marginalized are Palestinian women, who have, historically,

suffered the worst political representation in the Knesset relative to their
numbers in the population.
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Only five Arab women have ever served in the Knesset since Israel’s first
national elections in 1949. This lack of representation was reflected in Israel’s
last elections in 2015 when Arab women won three (out of 120) seats in the
legislature. This made their total representation in the Knesset only 2.5%.
It wasn’t as if the parties specifically answering the needs of the Arab

population made any great effort to ensure an equitable gender balance: Arab
women were 17% of the total of Arab MKs.
And that inequity and marginalization is set to continue in these elections

too. In the recent primaries held earlier this month for parties seeking to
represent Arab constituents, the pickings were meager.
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2/7/2019 Haaretz.Com
In Balad, only one woman, Hiba Yazbak, was elected for the second seat on
the party’s list. Similarly, the Jewish-Arab party Hadash elected only one
woman, Aida Touma-Suleiman, for the second seat on the list. Dr. Ahmed
Tibi’s party, Ta’al, has yet to release a party list.
Surprisingly, the United Arab List (Ra’am), led by the Islamic

movement, reserved seats for women in the first six seats in the party's list for
the 21st Knesset, having previously excluded women from standing. But how
many women will be actually represented on the list is yet to be seen.
Troublingly, no women so far were elected to lead the parties.
One further surprise, and one that attracted significant controversy, was the
candidature of an Arab woman, Dima Tayeh, in the primaries of the Likud
party, the same party that led the efforts to pass the Nation State Law, almost
universally condemned by Arab citizens as discriminatory and legislated
them a second-class status.
Her candidacy led her family to denounce her y as disloyal to her people and
to shun her until she would withdraw. Her attempt to run on the Likud list,
which is generally antagonistic toward Arabs and whose other candidates
campaign on explicitly anti-Arab platforms, mean that it’s hard to consider
her a legitimate representative of that community.
It should be noted that of the current five Arab men who serve as MKs for
Zionist parties, four are members of the Druze community, who commonly
serve in the IDF and don’t hold the same political and national identity
positions as non-Druze Palestinian citizens of Israel. The fifth is an MK for
the leftist Meretz party.
For Arab women who want to campaign by legitimately representing popular

opinion in their communities, which is very distant from the mainstream
Israeli Zionist politics of left and right, the choice is vanishingly narrow: the
few Arab and leftist parties. Those political chasms deter the majority of Arab
men and women from competing for Knesset positions as members of non-
Arab parties. They are subsequently forced to compete for the few seats
available in a small number of Arab parties.
Arab women suffer from two major obstacles preventing their more equitable
representation in the legislature that governs their lives. First of all, Arab
women are part of Israel’s wider marginalization from political institutions of
its Palestinians citizens, and, secondly, women suffer from the persistence of
patriarchal practices and values in their own community.
The sequence of historical and political circumstances marginalizing Arab

citizens politically is long, including almost two decades (1948–66) in which
Arabs lived under Israeli martial law. One of its consequences was a long
delay in the birth of Palestinian women’s activism and the kindling of interest
and recognition by women and feminist organizations in Israel.
The struggle for equality and the need to confront constant discriminatory
policies takes center stage in Palestinian activism within Israel. That meta-
struggle has the effect of constantly marking women’s issues and voices as
secondary, suspending their prioritization indefinitely.
Clearly those struggles for equality, economic opportunity, basic funding and
public safety in Arab communities are critical. But many of those issues
disproportionately affect Arab women, even if this aspect is far less often
discussed.
According to a 2018 National Insurance Institute report, almost half of

Israel’s Arab population lives in poverty. Among all Israeli Jews, the poverty
rate for families was just 13.4%.
Government ministries chronically neglect Arab communities with regard to

funding and resources.
The state failed to address the high rates of gun violence and violence against
women in the Arab sector. Half of the women killed in Israel this year were
Arab, despite Arabs comprising less than one-fourth of the Israeli population.
The employment rate among Arab women in Israel ages 25-54 rose from only
21% in the early 2000s to 35% in 2016. Despite this increase, their
employment rate remains low compared to that of Jewish women: indeed,
two thirds of Arab women of employment age do not participate in the
workforce.
On top of institutional discrimination, Arab women face high cultural

barriers to political participation within their often highly socially
conservative communities. Women are exposed to high levels of domestic
violence. They are also still expected to focus on their roles in the family as
mothers, wives, and sisters. Since the concept of family honor is directly
associated with women, being in the public spotlight and the criticism that
comes with it could jeopardize that key asset.
When Arab men go into political life, they don’t constantly need to be looking
over their shoulder if they go against the consensus views of their community
or family. When an Arab woman chooses the same political path, the price
she pays for dissent is far higher: she risks losing their protection and
support, making her even more vulnerable to criticism and even ostracism.
As a woman from Umm Al Fahm, I experienced resistance from my family for

my interest in studying political science and engaging in political activity. It
took my dad a few years to go from, "I don’t have daughters studying political
science," to being proud, in public, of my accomplishments.
These societal expectations are present in the Arab community in general, but
it is more prominent in more conservative geographical area such as the
Triangle, the home of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement. They
are more prominent among poor and less-educated families.
All of these conditions further constrain and deter women from entering
elections or investing their time and resources toward improving their status
in the community.
Despite this bleak picture, there is hope. Recently, due to an intensive

grassroots campaign in Arab society to increase women’s involvement in local
politics organized by a coalition of 11 Arab-led organizations, Arab women
made history in the last round of local elections in Israel held in late October
2018.
This campaign resulted in the election of 26 Arab women to local councils,

including the first Druze and Bedouin women representatives, as well as an
unprecedented four female heads of political parties participating in local
elections.
For this success to translate to the level of the Knesset, both Israeli
institutions and Arab party leaders must invest in, and promote,
women’s political participation by creating safer and more conducive
environment for their participation. When women are educated, have at least
minimal financial independence, and feel safe, they are more likely to run in
elections. And Arab parties need to reserve more than one seat for women in
their top four seats.
Moreover, the state and Arab community leaders need to sponsor and
encourage grassroots campaigns to push Arab women and the Arab sector to
recognize the importance of women’s participation in politics and its benefit
to their families and their society, and as fully legitimate and necessary
stakeholders in Israel’s democracy.
Dr. Anwar Mhajne is an Umm Al Fahm native and moved to the United
States in 2011 to pursue her M.A. and Ph.D. She is currently a Postdoctoral
Teaching Fellow in the Department of Political Science at Stonehill College,
MA. Twitter: @mhajneam

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2/7/2019 Haaretz.

Only five Arab women have ever served in Israel's

With the Israeli Knesset elections approaching, the question

Even further marginalized are Palestinian women, who have, historically,

>> Arab Feminists in Israel Refuse to Let the Struggle

It wasn’t as if the parties specifically answering the needs of the Arab

And that inequity and marginalization is set to continue in these elections

Surprisingly, the United Arab List (Ra’am), led by the Islamic

For Arab women who want to campaign by legitimately representing popular

The sequence of historical and political circumstances marginalizing Arab

According to a 2018 National Insurance Institute report, almost half of

Government ministries chronically neglect Arab communities with regard to

On top of institutional discrimination, Arab women face high cultural

As a woman from Umm Al Fahm, I experienced resistance from my family for

Despite this bleak picture, there is hope. Recently, due to an intensive

This campaign resulted in the election of 26 Arab women to local councils,

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