This report reviews the barriers that Arab women face in integrating into Israel’s employment market. It focuses on two major barriers, about which academic and professional literature are of one mind with regard to their impact: the lack of adequate public transportation and the lack of facilities for children under the age of three (toddler daycare centers).
In the first decade of the 2000s, when the public debate began about their low participation and its effect on the Israeli economy, various government decisions were made (including within the framework of five-year plans) that set goals for increasing their employment rates alongside programs to encourage employment. Three major government resolutions were passed during this period: Resolution No. 1994, which set a 40% employment target by 2020; Resolution No. 198, which set a 53% employment target by 2030; and Resolution No. 550, which set a 46.3% employment target for Arab women of prime working age by 2026.
These government decisions merely committed to reduce gaps, rather than achieving substantial equality between Arab and Jewish citizens. To wit, the employment target for Arab women that is supposed to be achieved by 2030 is 53%, while the rate of participation of Jewish women already today stands at 83%. This shows that even if the goals set by the government are achieved, the inequality between the two groups will persist and Arab women will still be at the bottom of the ladder of participation in the labor market.
Five-year plans, however good they may be, are an uncommon way to correct distortions and close gaps but they do not ensure the equal fulfillment of the rights of Israel’s Arab citizens with regard to the allocation of basic resources and services. As explained in the report, budgets allocated through these programs are often not fully utilized, or at best are used only partially.
In a reality where Arab localities are afflicted by infrastructure gaps totaling billions of shekels, it is not enough to allocate budgets in five-year plans that hinge on the goodwill of governments motivated by political considerations. What is needed is a commitment anchored in law to take steps to promote formal and substantial equality, both in the implementation of egalitarian policies and allocation of resources. This does not guarantee an equitable application of the policy, but it is an initial and necessary step to monitor the implementation of such decisions.
To improve the fulfillment of the civil rights of Arab citizens, Zulat proposes a series of amendments to laws and regulations that would strengthen the obligation to factor equality into decisions pertaining to the approval, creation, budgeting, and subsidization of daycare centers and transportation infrastructure. These proposals could enhance oversight by civil society and state authorities (especially the legislature and the judiciary) over the implementation of equality and the reduction/expansion of inequalities.
