Barriers to Post-Secondary Education among Young Arab-Bedouin Women in Israel

Abstract

Post-secondary education (PSE) is an important factor predicting a person's success in life. One group that would benefit from obtaining PSE are young women from ethnic minority groups. The current study focuses on young Bedouin women, one of the most marginalized minority groups in Israel, with the aim of exposing the barriers they face on their way to acquiring PSE. The study focuses on groups with 11 Bedouin young women, ages 20-22. The findings revealed that these young women face many barriers that are expressed at the structural level and at the gender-family level. To increase the participation of young Bedouin women in PSE, it is necessary to intervene and promote their academic achievements and aspirations, beginning during primary school and continuing until their actual integration into PSE. There is also a need to develop programs that will increase family support for women’s education.

Keywords:

• Arab-Bedouin young women
• post-secondary education
• barriers
• intersectionality
• cumulative inequality theory

1. Introduction

Post-secondary education (PSE), also called higher education, includes all types of PSE such as public and private universities, colleges, training institutions for technical professions, and vocational schools.¹ Post-secondary education can predict people’s success in life and the degree to which they will integrate into society, as it affects the social and economic opportunities open to them and is associated with an increase in standard of living.² Numerous studies have found that education can prevent poverty or help people extricate themselves from the poverty cycle.³ The lack of PSE, by contrast, serves as a major barrier to employment worldwide, and impairs the ability to achieve social mobility.⁴

The acquisition of PSE among young women has many positive effects both at the individual and social level. Post-secondary education among women is a key factor that promotes their involvement in the labor market and affects both the quality of the workforce and women’s income.⁵ Education is a significant tool for empowering young women against the violation of their human rights, especially in Arab society⁶ and strengthens their position in the family and society.⁷

The OECD report⁸ emphasizes that although women generally acquire PSE to a greater extent than do men, their representation is still relatively high among the NEET group (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Indeed, the World Labor Organization⁹ indicated that 22.4% of young people are NEET, and a high percentage of them (67.5%) are young women. Barriers to acquiring PSE among women are particularly evident among women from minority groups.¹⁰ As such, in the current study we sought to examine the perceptions of young women from Bedouin society regarding the barriers they face in acquiring PSE.

2. Women in Arab-Bedouin Society

The Bedouin population is an integral part of Israeli-Arab society but has a historical, social, political, and cultural uniqueness that distinguishes it from other groups in Israel’s Arab minority. The Bedouin living in Israel are Muslim¹¹, and they number about 268,900 people, constituting about 14% of the total Arab population in Israel.¹² The Bedouin population, similar to the general Arab minority in Israel, suffer from institutionalized discrimination, but they also experience unique kinds of discrimination in terms of Israel’s policy goal of forcing this nomadic population into permanent towns.¹³ As a result, although for centuries Bedouin society in the Negev (the south of Israel) has been characterized by a nomadic lifestyle, today about 75% of them live in permanent communities, whereas nearly 25% of them live in scattered villages that the state of Israel does not recognize.¹⁴ Young Bedouin women living in the Negev were the focus of this study.

The social structure of Bedouin society is based on belonging to a tribe comprising several “clans” (extended families) and nuclear families living in proximity¹⁵, and it prioritizes collective identity over individual identity and individual expression.¹⁶ It is also a traditional and patriarchal society; namely, the status of women is lower than that of men, both in the private and public spheres.¹⁷ Single women are subordinate to their father and to their brothers, and after their marriage, to the men they marry.¹⁸ As a result, there is a high incidence of violence against women on the part of fathers, brothers, and spouses.¹⁹ In this society, the main duties of a woman are to be a wife and mother; a woman is expected to devote her life to fulfilling household tasks, take care of her husband’s needs, and raise her children.²⁰ Marriage among minors is commonplace, and these marriages are often polygamous.²¹ Although one might expect modernization processes to have improved the situation of women, it has worsened. For example, the transition to permanent communities has led to women having less freedom to leave their homes, for reasons of modesty.²²

In general, the Bedouin community is typified by a lack of employment infrastructure, vocational training, and educational opportunities, all leading to a shortage of employment sources for women and increased dependence on men.²³ For example, in 2015, only 16% of Bedouin women in the Negev participated in the labor force, compared with 64% of Jewish women and 27% of Arab women living in the Negev.²⁴ A main reason for their employment situation is that women, especially young Bedouin women, are uneducated. As such, their employment opportunities are limited, and often they work in dead-end jobs.²⁵

3. Structural Barriers to PSE for Bedouin Women

There are several prominent structural barriers to the integration of young women from Bedouin society into PSE. Gender inequality in education begins in the primary and secondary education system. In general, studies have indicated that educational staff discriminate toward girls, an attitude especially reflected in the greater investment made in male students compared to female students in the sciences and math.²⁶ Although little research has been done in this regard among the Bedouin population, it seems that the educational staff in Bedouin schools tend to encourage boys, and not girls, to study, and especially the sciences. Underlying patriarchal and conservative assumptions seem to lead to the discouragement of continuing studies among girls.²⁷

Another barrier relates to institutional discrimination against the Bedouin education system. The education system in Arab society in Israel in general suffers from ongoing discrimination in the allocation of government resources.²⁸ Bedouin schools face building shortages, dilapidated infrastructures, deficiencies in existing buildings, and meager budgets.²⁹ As a result, in 2019, only 48.1% of twelfth-grade students in the Bedouin sector in the Negev earned their matriculation certificates, compared with 69.7% of all students in the Israeli education system³⁰, and their certificates are less likely to meet the threshold requirements for admission to universities.³¹ It is also important to acknowledge the “latent dropout” phenomenon in Bedouin society; namely, although formally registered in high school, some girls do not come to school, and the schools take no action against them.³²

Another barrier to PSE in the Bedouin population is transportation. According to data from the Ministry of Education, 80% of student dropout in Bedouin localities occurs at ages 15-17, after the youngsters move to high school. It should be noted that the rate of girls dropping out at this stage is greater than the rate of boys.³³ One reason is that most Bedouin villages do not have high schools, and therefore students are transported to schools in permanent localities. Public transportation is poor and irregular in these areas, and as a result, families find it difficult to accept the girls’ departure without knowing for sure when they will return.³⁴

Finally, a main barrier to PSE among Bedouin women is the family’s low socio-economic status, common to this society. The association between the family's financial situation and the children's academic pursuits has been extensively documented in the literature³⁵, with girls who grow up in low-socio-economic families more likely not to acquire PSE.³⁶ Bedouin society faces particularly severe economic hardships compared to the rest of Israel's population, and resultantly, girls are often expected to help their families instead of attending school.³⁷ In this context one can see the connection between the structural and the family-gender barriers.

4. Family-Gender Barriers

The main interpersonal barrier to PSE acquisition experienced by young women in traditional societies relates to their standing in the family, which is affected by gender norms. Family as a whole, and parents in particular, have a huge influence on their children acquiring PSE.³⁸ However, societal inequality and discrimination permeates the family unit, with parents encouraging their sons to pursue an education while discouraging their daughters from doing the same.³⁹ This inequality is particularly pronounced in traditional societies, such as Bedouin society, which usually does not support women's achieving PSE.⁴⁰ In Bedouin society a woman is required to marry and have children for the sake of expanding the tribe. Pursuing PSE runs completely contrary to achieving this goal as it inhibits the central role expected of her.⁴¹ Accordingly, Bedouin young women are often prevented from pursuing PSE and, given that as minors their families marry them off, they are even at high risk of dropping out of secondary school.

Another familial barrier to women pursuing PSE stems from the fear that doing so will harm the so-called “family honor”.⁴² Pursuing PSE necessitates the woman going out into the world alone and being exposed to strangers, especially men. Fears about rumors and gossip related to her modesty may lead the family to prevent her from leaving the house.⁴³ There is also concern that, during their studies, the young women may be exposed to Western ideas that contradict the traditional values on which they were raised.

5. Theoretical Background

The current study is based on two main theories, the first of which is the theory of “cumulative inequality”.⁴⁴ According to this theory, which explains how inequality between groups consistently develops, the social systems around us systematically generate inequality through the demographic process.⁴⁵ Those who are born into a social environment with many resources and economic assets will continue to enjoy them in adulthood as well. Essentially, the “Matthew effect” takes hold, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and with social gaps serving the strongest groups in society who gain power at the expense of the weaker groups.⁴⁶ In the current study, Bedouin society suffers institutional discrimination in regard to various aspects as mentioned above, including the allocation of resources for education, which creates barriers in integrating them into PSE.⁴⁷ In accordance with this theory, the structural barriers serve the powerful groups in society and prevent young women from obtaining education.

The second theory on which this study is based is intersectionality theory. This theory is based on the notion that mechanisms of oppression such as gender, status, ethnic affiliation, race, and sexual orientation intersect with each other and create marginal situations unique to each person⁴⁸; one can thus understand the life situations of women from an examination of the intersection of the marginal locations which are unique to each of them.⁴⁹ As mentioned, PSE is a significant factor in determining an individual's social and economic position.⁵⁰ Individuals who inhabit marginalized locations are likely contending with various inequalities and may as such be excluded from PSE institutions, further amplifying existing social disparities.⁵¹ Therefore, intersectionality theory in recent years has included the context of education, and some studies have referred to race and gender as prominent marginalized locations that may place educational barriers before different groups.⁵²

In addition to these locations, researchers have aimed to understand which other locations might curb different groups’ opportunities to enter PSE.⁵³ However, very few studies have used intersectionality theory to explore PSE barriers in the intersection between being young women and being from a minority group. In addition, previous studies have only focused on a small number of marginalized locations that intersect with one another. For example, research in the field shows that young women, especially those from minority groups usually have low socioeconomic backgrounds and difficulty acquiring PSE.⁵⁴ However, it is clear that these young women contend with additional marginalized locations. Given that these young women are often expected to help with the home finances⁵⁵, acquiring an education becomes a challenge. This barrier is in addition to, among others, the learning gaps that derive from low-resource schools.⁵⁶ It seems clear that different marginalized locations together produce inhibitory barriers to these young women’s integration into PSE.

6. The Current Study

As most of the existing knowledge concerning barriers to PSE has not emerged from a specific focus on Bedouin young women, one of the most marginalized groups in society, in this study we explored barriers to the acquisition of PSE among this cohort.‏ Our claim is that the intersectionality of being women, young, Bedouin, poor, and living on Israel’s periphery creates unique barriers to acquiring PSE. We examined this claim via the perspectives of the young women themselves.

6.1. Methodology

We conducted focus groups of Bedouin young women who had not entered PSE and were participants in various social services programs. Focus groups are particularly effective with respect to learning about education⁵⁷ and for women from minority groups.⁵⁸ Focus groups provide a safe environment for people to share their experiences with others who have had similar experiences, an issue of particular import when sensitive content is at hand⁵⁹, such as barriers to acquiring education. Focus groups also align well with feminist goals as they are a forum in which participants can discuss and reflect on gender issues; they make the invisible visible, and they allow for a bridge to be built between the individual and the collective experience.⁶⁰

6.2. Participants

Two focus groups were conducted with Bedouin young women who live in southern Israel and were the recipients of different social services. In total, 11 individuals participated: one group included five women and the other included six. Table 1 presents the participants’ background characteristics. Ages ranged between18-20, all participants were born in Israel, and all were single. Nearly half (45.4%) indicated that they graduated with a partial matriculation diploma (the Israeli certificate needed for entering university). Most (63.6%) did not work, and of those who did, most had temporary and/or part-time jobs, such as cashiers. All wore traditional clothing including a head covering (hijab).

Table 1. Background characteristics of the participants.

Pseudonym	Age	Gender	Family Status	Religion Status	Education Years	Employment
Amal	18	Female	Single	Religious	12 years and partial matriculation certificate	Working
Amira	19	Female	Single	Religious	12 years and partial matriculation certificate	Working
Basma	18	Female	Single	Religious	12 years and partial matriculation certificate	Working
Huda	18	Female	Single	Religious	12 years and partial matriculation certificate	Not working
Jasmine	20	Female	Single	Religious	12 years of study and full matriculation	Working
Laila	20	Female	Single	Religious	12 years of schooling, without a matriculation certificate	Not working
Miriam	18	Female	Single	Religious	12 Years, Without a matriculation certificate	Not working
Nur	20	Female	Single	Religious	Less than 12 years of schooling	Working
Rowan	18	Female	Single	Religious	12 years of schooling, without a matriculation certificate	Not working
Shirin	20	Female	Single	Religious	12 years and partial matriculation certificate	Not working
Siraj	19	Female	Single	Religious	12 years and partial matriculation certificate	Not working

7. Design

We approached social workers working in different social service agencies who recruited the participants. The focus groups were based on a semi-structured interview, and the questions referred first to general barriers that prevent young women from achieving PSE and then to their own experience of interpersonal and/or structural barriers. The interviews were conducted in Arabic, the interviewees’ mother tongue. The discourse was open, with only minimal intervention by the researchers so as to enable participants to express themselves freely. Each group was led by one of the researchers and a research assistant, both of whom were Arabs and trained in qualitative data collection.

7.1 Authors Positionality

The researchers are all social workers, and all of them have worked for years with Arab Bedouin women in Israel. Our familiarity with this population stems from our work, either as social workers, researchers, team counselors for professionals who work with young women at risk, and/or our close encounters with the young women in this population themselves who have succeeded in integrating into higher education. In addition, all of us have either lived, worked, or both on Israel’s periphery for many years; therefore, we are well aware of the structural barriers potentially encountered by the young women and could thus build rapport with our participants. We were also mindful of and sensitive to this group’s social norms. For example, contacting the participants to be interviewed and recruiting them were conducted entirely in Arabic.

In addition, as one of the researchers speaks Arabic and is more involved in the Arab community, she conducted the focus group together with a research assistant who also speaks Arabic. The fact that the interviews were conducted by experienced professionals from Arab society provided a more natural space for the interviewees, and allowed the young women to feel safe, respected, and close to the interviewer. Adherence to ethical and cultural standards during the interviews enabled interviewees to share their stories with the interviewers in a non-judgmental, unprejudiced, and accepting environment. Moreover, during the interview we continually referred to the participants as “experts we were interested in learning from” in order to promote policy and practice changes, and doing so reduced power and status imbalances that can exist between interviewers and interviewees. Lastly, being four researchers who regularly and consistently discussed the interpretations of the findings helped us minimize any undue personal influence on the analysis of the findings.

8. Analysis

All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Data analysis was carried out according to thematic analysis guidelines to identify common concepts within the dataset.⁶¹ In the first step, the researchers familiarized themselves with the data and identified initial ideas by analyzing each interview. Next, they extracted and coded relevant data. The codes were then grouped as initial themes, and themes were reviewed by the research team to assess variability and consistency. The final themes were compared to the entire dataset for fitness and were named.⁶² The young women revealed a wide range of barriers, many of which were structural and many of which were related to Bedouin family tradition/gender norms.

8.1. Structural Barriers

A key part of the focus group discourse was the structural barriers experienced by the participants on their way to PSE. These barriers begin in primary and secondary school, and continue on into adulthood, as detailed below.

8.2. The Bedouin Education System as a Barrier to Women's Education

Many references were made to the Bedouin education system, and they can be divided into two subthemes: the lack of preparation and guidance toward PSE, and discriminatory treatment and abuse. In terms of the former subtheme, participants didn't know what they could study in the future, what options they had, and what the criteria were for acceptance to a particular course of study. They also had no knowledge about future employment opportunities or what they would need to study for each occupation. Jasmine, said the following:

I feel like in high school the focus was always on graduating. That is, it was only about how to succeed in high school. After you finish high school […], you’re surprised to find out that you know nothing about university studies or requirements for getting into university. […] The focus is only on high school graduation. After high school, we’re lost.

Siraj said they weren’t encouraged in school to continue their studies:

I finished school and sat at home. There is no one to encourage you and say, ‘Wake up, study, go, go out and plan your life!’

In terms of the second subtheme, discriminatory treatment, participants shared their experience of teachers investing more in boys, strong students, or teachers’ own children. Other students therefore fell between the cracks. For example, Nur shared:

I felt that he [the teacher] made me hate school. His attitude was humiliating. He invested in two or three students and focused only on them. […] I was the only student, other than two boys, who was good at math. I even thought of being a math teacher. But when I saw that he was discriminating between students I gave up. I did not want it anymore.

Like Nur, Amal told the group she felt discriminated against by her teachers:

Those [students] who are good in their studies, they invest their efforts in them. But those who are like me, average, or those who are not good in their studies, they don't invest in them. They leave things the same as they were.

Clearly, there are several types of discrimination in the Bedouin education system: gender discrimination (i.e. even if female students are as talented as male students, they are ignored/neglected), and discrimination between strong and weak students. Thus, a student who is both a woman and weak in school will likely be doubly discriminated against. Some participants shared traumatic memories that occurred at school, at the hands of their teachers. As one participant, Huda, said:

He [the teacher] could have torn me to pieces with his blows … It happened right when my brother died. He hit me. […] After the holiday, you know, we're back in school, I came to school without doing my homework, and that's why I got five smacks from him, with a ruler. He punished me and put me next to the garbage can. It traumatized me.

Although in Israel, as in other Western countries, such abuse is not tolerated, in Bedouin society there is no one to stop corporal punishment from taking place. And although participants did not always directly mention the connection between their school experience and PSE, it can be assumed that if there is a school experience consisting of no guidance toward PSE, various types of discrimination, and incidents of abuse, there will be an effect on future education.

8.3. Institutional Discrimination Against Bedouin Communities in the Negev

Participants said that state institutions discriminated against Bedouin society. The three subthemes that emerged, all of which affected participants’ ability to integrate into or even contemplate the prospect of PSE, were: (a) low governmental investment in the Bedouin community in general, and specifically in their schools: (b) lack of enforcement of compulsory education laws in Bedouin schools: (3) Bedouin society’s low socioeconomic situation.

Participants discussed how discrimination by state institutions toward Bedouin communities in the Negev created difficulties for them in school. In this context, the significant gaps between the neighboring Jewish cities and the Bedouin communities were highlighted. Whereas Jewish students receive transportation, extracurricular activities, and various extra classes, Bedouin students do not. As Basma said:

They have buses, meaning the Jews. I know this from my Jewish friend. The bus picks her up and takes her home. […] In the years when they’re taking the matriculation exams they spend more time studying. They [the school] support their students and help them overcome all obstacles. […] The students get everything they need.

Nur further elaborated on the gap between Jewish and Bedouin schools and talked about how the schools even look different: “I sometimes visit Jewish schools. I see that all the classrooms are decorated. Our classrooms are bare”.

Participants highlighted their feelings that the state did not take enough responsibility for the education of the Bedouin children starting from a young age and continuing through adulthood. They mentioned the lack of school budgets, the lack of study scholarships, the lack of supervision over school quality, and the lack of encouragement and guidance for young women to acquire PSE. One issue that was noted repeatedly was the lack of physical access to secondary schools in neighboring Bedouin towns, constituting a significant barrier that also, later, prevents young Bedouin women from integrating into PSE (in places that are even harder to reach). Basma elaborated on the differences between Jewish and Bedouin students:

They [the Jewish students] have a set hour. At eight o'clock all the students are already in school … They have public transportation with pre-determined schedules. But for us there is no public transportation, so the students arrive whenever they can/want.

Public transportation does not run often enough in Bedouin localities, and for young Bedouin women, who usually don't have driver's licenses, this insufficiency produces another difficulty later in life in terms of PSE. In Siraj’s words:

I wanted to study nursing in [the name of the city]. But people came and told my father that [the name of the city] is far away, and it's wrong for her to study there. How will a girl get there? And at what time will she be back?

The second subtheme is the lack of enforcement of compulsory education laws in Bedouin schools. Participants revealed that they were often exposed to situations in which girls were forced to drop out of school and get married at a young age (in violation of the law prohibiting the marriage of minors). Siraj said the following:

Siraj: There are girls whose parents prevent them [from going to school].

Interviewer: Why?

Siraj: Prevent from them [receiving an education] at the age of 17, 16. “You will not study anymore; you will stay home”. And they keep them at home and marry them off at 16, 17 years old. This is the norm. If they were in a Jewish school or another school, then at least the teachers or principal would call the parents to ask why the girl was not coming to school. I mean this is my life! You [the school staff] must care about what happens to me.

Basma talked about her sister who got married when she was a minor:

My older sister […] got married in the tenth grade […]. Even though they promised that she could continue to study even if she got married … [her studies ended].

It seems clear that the state’s lack of enforcement of compulsory education laws in the Bedouin community causes or is at least strongly related to another violation: the marriage of minors.

Participants said their family's socio-economic status served as yet another barrier to education. As they often faced harsh living conditions, including extreme poverty, families’ attention necessarily focused on daily survival, leaving them with little ability to focus on education. Not only is PSE in Israel costly, but even before addressing that issue, the issue of young Bedouin men and women needing to help their families financially must be taken into account; in other words, such families cannot afford to give up their “working hands”. As Nur said:

The students [boys] who were in my class would leave long before the end of class because they had a job.

And Huda said:

There are many parents who oppose [PSE for their daughter] for economic reasons. That is, for them if there is no money, then there is no possibility.

9. Family-Gender Barriers

Participants referred to the absence of support for PSE from their families and especially from their parents, whereas their brothers generally received encouragement on this front. The following discussion took place in one of the groups:

Amal: There are a lot of dreams. But, for example, when your father tells you to stay home, it crushes your dreams.

Rowan: This means that first your brother will get to go study.

Siraj: There is a big difference between daughters and sons. There is tremendous discrimination.

Amal: For example, your brother will tell you not to study, to stay home.

Laila: It's enough for us [the parents] that your brother will study.

In addition to parents’ objections, brothers’ objections constitute another barrier. Huda’s brother objected to her studying, even though he did not object to one of their other brothers studying. In fact, the family even financially supported the other brother’s studies:

My mother worked hard for my brother, meaning she wanted to get his freshman year expenses covered and everything … And when I told my mom I wanted to study, my older brother said, “No! You will stay home. It’s enough that]name of her other brother] wants to study.

Siraj had a similar observation:

I know girls whose fathers actually agree [to their daughters’ higher education] and the mothers also agree, but then another man stops them, for example, a brother”.

Participants also referred to the world in which their parents grew up, i.e. one typified by traditional Bedouin cultural norms, as constituting another barrier to their studies. As women’s traditional Bedouin role consists of taking care of the home and children, education is not perceived as a goal for them. Siraj said:

Studying is not something that speaks to them. It’s not up there on their list of priorities, nor is it close to their hearts. If a man has arrived to take a girl’s hand, then this is her destiny. So […] they're going to get [the girl] married. Whether she wants to or not, they will get her married.

Another barrier to PSE is that daughters are expected to take care of their brothers and assist mothers with the housework. As Nur said:

I'm the youngest in the family […] And that means my mother trusts me when it comes to housework, cooking, and doing all sorts of things for my brothers. Sometimes, I must also help them with their homework for school. If I were to come back late [because of my own studies] I would not have time for them. […] This is why my mother said to me: “Stay home this year] …]. Then we'll be done preparing for your brother’s wedding and we can get him married off.

Although it seems that this particular barrier is temporary, it is clear that traditional norms and the resultant familial expectations put the family’s and brothers’ needs above those of the daughter. This expectation also at least partially explains the brothers’ objections to their sisters’ studies. As Basma said:

The school day ends at the latest at 2:30 p.m. But university studies can go until 8:30 p.m. […] Brothers come home and expect to see that their sister has already prepared dinner for them … […] She cannot come home whenever she wants. They are used to her cooking for them.

9.1. Marriage at a Young Age and Receiving False Promises from the Groom

Participants indicated that they are pressured to get married at a young age, and during the engagement they will often receive promises from the intended groom that he will allow them to study after they marry, and even fund their studies. But these promises are not fulfilled. In Amal’s words:

Her husband tells her … I mean when they’re engaged, “I will support and do everything you need to get an education”. He tells her, “I will send you to study”. And then after they get married … it’s a pity … it turns out none of it is true.

Laila described what happened in her family:

My cousin got married and his wife was studying to be a nurse. She was pregnant and had a miscarriage and therefore she had to stay home for a few days. And her husband said, “You will stay home. After all, you don't need it.

Clearly, another barrier to the young women’s PSE aspirations is the unfulfilled promises made by their future husbands.

9.2. Cultural, Gender & Structural Barriers Creating Barriers to Young Women’s PSE

The combination of cultural, gender, and/or structural barriers leads to the creation of familial barriers. When participants were asked why their parents and brothers opposed their going to study, they described that doing so goes against the traditional cultural values in Bedouin society, not necessarily because of the studies themselves, but because of factors related to these studies: Women aren’t supposed to walk around alone, especially late at night, but every academic institution is at least an hour away. The absence of adequate public transportation also makes it harder for them to contemplate PSE. As Huda said:

My father objected to my sister studying at the university because the studies go until late. He was not actually opposed to the studies themselves, but rather to her coming home late. For them […] the most important thing is what people will say about their daughter being out so late … 

Siraj also said that it was other people’s opinions that stopped her from pursung her educational goals:

I wanted to study nursing in [name of remote city), and I went to university, and everything was fine. But people came and told my father that [the name of the city] is far away, and it's wrong to study there: How will a girl get there? And what time will she be back?

Participants also added another layer to how the traditional norms of Bedouin society, often associated with suspicious attitudes toward women, create familial barriers that prevent access to PSE. They referred to the discrimination experienced by girls at the hands of their families, solely due to their being female.

Siraj: When even a little problem occurs with a girl then it’s: “Stay home.” And the guy is free … I mean, what he's doing isn't considered shameful.‏

Amira: Yes, if a girl makes even the slightest mistake, then: “Stay home and don't go out. Sit”.

Amal: He’s at school and she’s at home making dishes, cooking, and sweeping. And she’s forbidden everything. The phone and everything … 

Participants said they might receive such punishments for “unacceptable” behaviors such as uploading photos to social media. Conservative attitudes toward girls and the resultant punishments leave young women at home for months, preventing them from studying and resulting in, among other things, significant learning gaps.

Bedouin parents, due to cultural-gender norms, may also object to their daughters’ PSE for fear that the daughters and the family will get a “bad name”. As Miriam said about her friend:

Someone came and told her parents that their daughter was not studying, that she was hanging out with guys, etc. They talked to their daughter, and she said, “I just go to study, and if you don't believe me ask my lecturers!” […] They [the lecturers] talked to her dad and her family and said, “We know her and we see her; she comes right home from her studies.” Poor thing, they [her family] wanted to stop her from studying.

The fear that attending a PSE institution might change the way young women are perceived by the surrounding Bedouin society may lead families to prevent young women from going to PSE institutions.

10. Discussion

The importance of post-secondary education for individuals and for society is well-documented, and accordingly, the inability of many populations, mostly excluded minorities, to acquire PSE is worrying and demands social intervention and policy change. One such population comprises young Bedouin women. Based on the cumulative inequality theory⁶³ and the intersectionality theory⁶⁴, we aimed to learn from the young women themselves about the factors they see as preventing them from obtaining PSE. The focus groups provided a comprehensive look at their experience in terms of the barriers to integrating into PSE institutions and indicated their deep awareness of these barriers.

The current study reveals just how deep, wide, and primal the barriers are for achieving PSE among this group. Previous studies showed the important role of parental academic expectations for their children’s educational achievements (e.g.⁶⁵), and how essential such expectations could be among disadvantaged groups, given the socioeconomic difficulties that likely already put these children’s achievements at risk.⁶⁶ In the current study, participants said that not only were there no familial expectations for them to achieve academically, the opposite was true: namely, they were expected to take care of the home and family instead of pursuing their studies. These expectations derive from cultural perceptions about women’s roles, but they also stem from the deep poverty, discrimination, and lack of resources in Israel’s Bedouin society, leading to the necessity of keeping young women in the “workforce”, either at home taking care of the family or working to bring in an income.⁶⁷ In keeping with traditional norms, gender discrimination, and low resources, women’s education is the first thing to fall by the wayside.⁶⁸

Our findings add to the existing literature that the expectation of young Bedouin women to take care of their family’s needs comes not only from their parents but also from their brothers. Therefore, even if the parents support their daughters’ studies, other male family members have the right to object and prevent the young women from acquiring P.S.E.⁶⁹ In our study, participants referred to brothers as important figures threatening to stop the women’s education, although one might have expected them to be more open to processes of change and modernization, given their age. Husbands were also figures who could prevent the women from receiving an education, with some even deceiving their intended bride with false promises of supporting their education post-marriage. In a society with this kind of male dominance over women in all spheres of life,⁷⁰ receiving PSE seems difficult if not impossible.

Taken together, the findings make one despair of the possibility that these young women will ever attain PSE. Namely, the young women in this study experienced the intersection of all the significant barriers mentioned in the literature review as barriers to PSE. All of the marginalized social locations and identity categories that compose their life experiences—that is, being women, young, Bedouin, part of a national minority living on the periphery, and having a low socioeconomic status—intersected. These locations are further related to familial barriers, including their parents’ and brothers’ objections to them acquiring PSE and their husbands’ lack of support as well. These locations are also related to their school experiences: namely, the discrimination against them as girls, especially if they are not good students, lack of preparation for PSE, and abuse. All of these are strongly related to sociocultural norms concerning women’s roles.

On a more macro level, the young women's marginalized locations are also manifested in the Bedouin community’s high poverty levels; the Israeli government’s low investment in the Bedouin education and transportation systems; the absence of extracurricular activities and, worse, the lack of enforcement of compulsory education in Bedouin schools, to mention only some of the barriers participants described. These barriers have been referred to previously.⁷¹ As such, one can imagine a thick wall standing between the young women and PSE—built by their families, schools, cultural norms, and governmental neglect of the Bedouin community—with all the bricks cemented together and impossible to break through.

Challenges in integration into PSE and feelings of other-ness have been found in previous studies among underprivileged young women in PSE institutions.⁷² For young Bedouin women, integration into PSE can be challenging for a variety of reasons, including the traditional way in which they dress, which differs from the way other students dress.⁷³ However, in the current study the main barriers found were structural and familial, perhaps because the young women in this study were so far from actually reaching the point of integrating into PSE. In this regard, it must be said that even compared to members of other disadvantaged groups, the young women in the current study experienced the biggest obstacles in terms of education.

The inequality experienced by this group begins in childhood (e.g. low governmental investment in their schools) but will continue into their adulthood, when the economic gap between them and the greater society grows, in accordance with cumulative inequality theory.⁷⁴ It may be that the powerful groups in society benefit from sustaining these educational gaps, and this situation preserves the social stratification and cultural power systems in society. At the same time, the participants seemed quite aware of the forces that oppress them, both at the structural and familial level, and as such there is hope that this awareness may one day lead to their rising up against these forces.

Extensive and comprehensive interventions are clearly needed to address the many barriers to PSE among these cohorts. The Israeli government must make much greater investment in Bedouin society and specifically in their education and transportation systems. It is also necessary to enforce both the compulsory education laws in Bedouin schools and the laws regarding the minimum age for marriage. Supporting young women’s PSE through subsistence scholarships might also provide an incentive for their families.

In Israel, vocational education is not well developed, and the schools only seem to focus on matriculation exams. Providing vocational education in high school might help these young women receive at least some basic tools to integrate into the labor market. In terms of school supervision, we found that the educational figures meant to protect their students are the ones who sometimes harm them physically and emotionally. Discriminatory treatment of young women must be avoided, and teachers must learn about their role in promoting academic expectations among young women. Traditional norms that subordinate women may be the hardest barrier to overcome, as young women tend to honor tradition to avoid conflict. However, this finding only indicates the need to develop creative ways in which young women from Bedouin society can acquire PSE without compromising societal norms.

11. Conclusion

The current study’s contribution lies in its being one of very few studies to explore the barriers to PSE from the perspectives of young Bedouin women. It also provides a comprehensive understanding of the scope of the barriers they face in this arena. There has been a growing demand in the literature for researchers to understand how different marginal situations, particularly among minority groups, may create difficulties in entering PSE. The study's findings indicate that women who come from minority groups, such as Bedouin women, face many barriers that intersect with each other and create particular difficulties for integrating into PSE.

At the structural level, these barriers are associated with low quality of education in childhood and, in some cases, discrimination and neglect by the educational staff toward the young women. These aspects may result in learning difficulties and even in school dropout altogether. In addition, at the family level, there are barriers for these women that are related to cultural norms, such as the fear of damaging the family name and/or the expectation that women in these cultures should take care of family members and not go out “into the world” to study. These barriers, both at the structural and family level, intersect and create a unique reality for women from minority groups that makes it difficult for them to acquire PSE.

Alongside its merits, the study has a few limitations. The use of focus groups is, as described, advantageous in many ways. However, in some cases, it prevented the possibility of exploring specific experiences more deeply, for example, concerns about actual integration into PSE institutions. As such, we recommend exploring the experiences of Bedouin young women who successfully integrated into PSE institutions and the factors that helped them overcome the many barriers identified here. In addition, the experience of deep oppression from childhood to adulthood, as we found here, may affect people’s personal academic expectations and further impact their PSE integration, an issue that should be further explored.

12. Ethical Considerations

This study was conducted according to the ethical guidelines of the author’s institution and was approved by one of the authors’ university ethics committees. All participants signed informed consent, the names used are pseudonyms, and all identifying details were changed.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the Israeli National Insurance Institute’s Research Foundation, and thank the interviewees for their collaboration.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Israeli National Insurance Institute’s Research Foundation: [Grant Number NULL].

Notes on contributors

Tehilia Refaeli

Tehila Refaeli is a social worker, a senior lecturer and the head of the Master's program in the Department of Social Work at Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care (INTRAC). Her main research interests are young people (18-29) from marginalized groups and in risky situations during their transition to adulthood, and their challenges, barriers, and facilitators to integration into society. She uses qualitative and quantitative, and mixed methods research methods in her studies.

Raghda Alnabilsy

Raghda Alnabilsy Ph.D., is a researcher at Ruppin Academic College and the Academic head of the Arab students' unit at the dean of students. Research interests focus on marginalized populations, particularly ethnic and gender exclusion, such as Arab-Palestinian women victims of domestic violence, children and adolescents exposed to abuse in Israel, students in academia from minority groups. The goal to which she aspires is to develop an innovative knowledge domain in subjects such as ethnic, social, cultural, political, and class contexts in Israel and their connection to social work practice. In February 2022, she was awarded another research grant by the National Insurance Institute of Israel, for a project entitled “Barriers and resources for integration in post-secondary education among Arab young women at risk and multiple margins”. She published articles in reputed journals and contributed chapters in book - Intimate partner violence against Palestinian women in Israel.(2019) The self-identity construction of Arab young women who were abused in childhood within a complex cultural and socio-political context (2022).

Agat Sold

Agat Sold is a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University. She holds a Master of Social Work from Ben-Gurion University and a Bachelor in Social Work from Sapir Academic College. Her thesis research focuses on young women who have experienced non-suicidal self-harm. Agat has experience in the field of social work as a lecturer, teaching assistant, and research assistant. As a social worker, she has experience working with young men and women at risk and experiencing marginalization.

Notes

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