The Experience of Material and Emotional Hardship in Israel: Do Some Groups Cope Better than Others?

While official poverty measures tend to focus on income alone, measures of material hardship also incorporate aspects of need. Families experience material hardship when they have difficulty paying bills or buying things the household needs, such as food, medicine and medical care. The current study develops four measures of material and emotional hardship and focusses on two groups that have high risks of poverty in Israel, namely Israeli–Palestinians and Ultra-orthodox Jews—Haredim, and compares them with the non-Haredi Jewish majority. Comparing Israeli–Palestinians, Haredim and non-Haredi Jews provides an opportunity to study the intersection of poverty and group membership. Group membership may affect hardship because groups differ in living conditions, poverty histories, social networks, access to resources, and perceptions of needs. The study draws on Israel’s 2013 Social Survey, conducted by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (n = 7438). The findings point to substantial degrees of inequality among the disadvantaged. Although Haredim and Palestinians have similar levels of income-poverty, the study shows that the consequences of low-income in terms of deprivation and hardship are more severe among Israeli–Palestinians than among (Haredi and non-Haredi) Jews. Israeli–Palestinians experience higher levels of material and emotional hardship than Haredim after controlling for household income.     

Who Benefits the Most? The Unequal Allocation of Transfers in the Israeli Welfare State

Objective . This article critically examines contradictions within the Israeli welfare system, and asks how welfare transfers affect poverty for different social groups. Methods . Using data from Israel's 1996 Income Survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics, the analysis focuses on households with working-age heads, and compares poverty rates, before and after transfers among three groups: (1) recent immigrants; (2) Arabs; and (3) ultra-orthodox Jews ( Haredim ), distinguishing between couple- and female-headed households. Results . The results show that social welfare policy is more effective in aiding recent immigrants, who are entitled to special benefits, than aiding Arabs. The findings also show that transfers have a stronger effect in reducing poverty among female-headed families than among couple-headed families, thus reducing the gap between these two types of households. Conclusions . Israeli welfare policy reduces poverty, but this effect differs substantially by social group. While formally Israel is considered a universalistic welfare state, for historical and ideological reasons certain social groups, such as Jewish immigrants, have been favored and granted extra benefits, while others, such as Arabs, were neglected.     

Marital Conflict, Children's Representations of Family Relationships, and Children's Dispositions Towards Peer Conflict Strategies

The links among marital relations and children's representations were examined. Forty‐seven children between the ages of 5 and 8 completed the Family Stories Task (FAST) to obtain their narrative representations of family relations and performed a variation of a puppet procedure ( Mize & Ladd, 1988 ) to assess children's dispositions towards peer conflict strategies. Their parents completed a set of questionnaires regarding marital quality. Results demonstrated relations between marital conflict and children's dispositions towards peer conflict strategies in conflict situations. Children's more negative dispositions towards peer conflict and aggressive behavior in the peer conflict scenarios were each associated with more overt conflict behaviors by mothers and fathers, respectively, and more covert conflict behavior by mothers. In addition, children's internal representations of parent–child relations served as a mediator between marital conflict and children's notions about conflict behavior towards peers.     

Mate Selection and Marriage Decision in Bicultural Society: Modern Orthodox Society in Israel

This article addresses courtship and mate selection patterns of young adults who belong to two parallel cultures: traditional and modern. In-depth interviews with 36 Modern-Orthodox Jewish men and women during their first year of marriage reveal unique considerations for mate selection and the dynamic flow between cultural systems. The findings show that dating is marriage-oriented but within a modern context. Although the study participants used modern tools and concepts, the marriage decision itself was bound to strict social norms and traditional expectations. The decision was based largely on rational reasoning, whereas love and personal needs were rarely discussed. The findings highlight the challenges faced by couples with bicultural identity in their transition to matrimony and can support professionals in addressing these conflicts.     

Community Intervention with Jewish Israeli Mothers in Times of Terror

The article examines the effectiveness of a community programmedesigned for Jewish Israeli mothers who have been exposed toterrorism. The aim of the intervention was to empower the womenand increase their sense of belonging to the community, andto reduce stress symptoms, mainly by encouraging and facilitatingtheir participation in community activities. Thirty-eight women,all residents of the same terror-ridden community, participatedin intensive workshops over a six month period designed to helpthem to become active in the community. The workshops providedthe women with the information and skills required for activityin the community projects in which they were interested. A qualitativeevaluation reveals that, at the end of the programme, most ofthe women reported that they felt better and more secure, andall of the women were participating in at least one activityin the community. The quantitative evaluation revealed lowerlevels of distress, higher levels of empowerment and no changein the feelings of belonging to the community. The implicationsof these findings are discussed in light of the persistenceof terror and theories of community intervention.     

Finding an Adequate Job: Employment and Income of Recent Immigrants to Israel

The study examines the early market experience of recent immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and their mobility patterns a few years after migration. The Labour Utilization Framework, proposed by Clogg and Sullivan (1983), was analysed to identify the employment difficulties immigrants experienced upon arrival, their short‐term mobility in the labour market, and the income consequences of their disadvantaged position in the market. Using a panel study of immigrants who arrived in Israel during 1990, we found that although most of them found employment, only a minority did not experience employment hardships. Four years after their arrival, most immigrants were still employed in occupations for which they were over‐qualified, and only a small portion of the group managed to find adequate employment. Women had more severe employment hardships and a lower rate of mobility into the better positions. For men and women alike, almost any deviation from a stable adequate employment entailed wage penalties.     

Normative or economic behavior? Fertility and women’s employment in Israel

Women’s employment and childrearing are competing activities, which exert much pressure on their time and energy. Many studies have found that women in paid employment, especially in a demanding career, limit their fertility and have few children or none. This negative correlation was explained mainly in terms of opportunity costs and the incompatibility of women’s employment and childrearing. This study focuses on the interplay between women’s employment and fertility decisions in Israel, a socially diverse country, characterized by high levels of both fertility and female employment. We argue that in an environment which supports and encourages high fertility women’s employment activity is less consequential for family planning. The study analyzes simultaneously the decision to have a third child and the decision to work. The findings show that fertility affects negatively women’s work activity, but women’s employment has no effect on their decision to have an additional child. Also, cultural variables affect the fertility decision but not economic considerations, while the opposite holds for the work decision.     

Inequality in the family: The institutional aspects of women’s earning contribution

This paper examines the effect of employment-supportive policies and arrangements on women’s economic contribution to their family. Using samples of working-age couples in 21 countries we employ multilevel modeling to separate the effects of household and country-level variables on earnings. We distinguish two types of relevant contextual factors: those that support women’s employment while preserving their domestic roles and those that potentially reduce intra-family economic inequalities by allowing women to allocate more of their time to paid employment. The findings suggest that all employment-supportive policies and arrangements increase women’s relative contribution to the household income through their effect on female labor force participation. Among dual-earner families, however, higher rates of childcare facilities increase women’s contribution, while long maternity leave and part-time employment decrease it. These tendencies are more pronounced among mothers.     

“It’s a Horrible Sin. If They Find Out,I Will Not be Able to Stay”: Orthodox Jewish Gay Men’s Experiences Living in Secrecy

This qualitative study examined the intersection of sexual orientation and religion in the Jewish Orthodox community by exploring 22 Orthodox Jewish gay men’s experiences living in secrecy. Analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with these men revealed four primary themes: emotional turmoil, ways of coping, impact on family relationships, and importance of the context. Findings from this study describe the daily struggles these men experienced keeping their homosexuality a secret. The findings suggest that in order to design effective interventions with this population, it is crucial to consider the larger community and religious context.