News

Project report highlights poverty gap among Arab women in Israel

07-03-2012

A report on the economic status of Arab women in Israel over the past decade has been published in the framework of an EU-funded project on Gender and Minority Mainstreaming in Israel. The report focuses on mechanisms for reducing their poverty by enhancing their level of education, increasing their participation in the labour force, and improving their health – three factors that directly affect their economic status and opportunities for change.
 
The report, highlighted by the EU Delegation in Israel ahead of International Women’s Day, says current poverty figures on Arab society in general, and women in particular, are not encouraging. The incidence of poverty is much higher among the country’s Arab population than among its Jewish population, with half of Arab women under the poverty line, compared to just 12 per cent of Jewish women.
 
The average income of Arab families is also consistently lower than that of Jewish families, regardless of whether the woman works. Nevertheless, women’s participation in the labour force significantly diminishes the incidence of poverty in both populations and reduces the poverty gap between Arabs and Jews, the report finds, saying that a change in the economic status of Arab women requires improvement in their human capital (upgrading their education and areas of specialization) and better access to the central, modern labour market.
 
The findings show a steady increase in the level of education of Arab women over the past decade. The continuous increase in the level of education of Arab women has closed the gap between them and Arab men, and has led, among other things, to a rise of almost 8 per cent in the percentage of Arab women in the labour force to 26.4 per cent in 2010.
 
In health matters, the report says Arab women in Israel are more prone to sickness than men and Jewish women. The report says life expectancy of Arab women in 2010 was 81 years, compared with 83.7 for Jewish women. Among Arab women, 47.8 per 100,000 women die of heart disease, a figure twice as high as that for Jewish women and diabetes is the cause of death of 39.6 of Arab women, compared with 10.1 among Jewish women.
 
The Gender and Minority Mainstreaming project, funded by the European Union's Investing in People Programme, was devised to give a full and complete picture of the reality of Arab women in Israel through data on national government policies and Israeli budgetary allocations. The project focuses on the areas of Education, Labour and Health, since these issues greatly affect the poverty rate amongst minorities.
 
Ahead of International Women’s Day, 8 March, the ENPI Info Centre has put together a package of materials and resources to highlight cooperation between the EU and its southern neighbours in the field of gender equality, including a brand new feature story, a specially produced video, and a press pack. (ENPI Info Centre)
 
Read more
 
Press release
 
Project information
 
ENPI Info Centre resources – women’s day 2012
 
EuropeAid fact sheet – International Women's Day 2012
  
EU Delegation – Israel
 
EU Delegation in Israel – facebook page
 
Investing in People
 
 
 

 


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