Migration, gender, and mobility: Ethiopian–Israeli women's narratives of career trajectories

ABSTRACT

Most studies on the Ethiopian community in Israel discuss the difficulties in its social, cultural, occupational, and educational integration. Too little attention has been paid to the young professionals in the community who are experiencing upward mobility and to the women in particular. As opposed to stereotypes of Ethiopian–Israelis as poor, uneducated, and marginalized, this article explores socio-economic advancement of Ethiopian–Israeli women in Israel. We look at their integration in the labour market and their professional mobility in the areas of arts, business, religion, the army, and education by analysing the factors that play a role in their success. This study allows us to explore Ethiopian women's worlds by looking at their background and the steps they have taken to succeed in their careers.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethiopian women
• immigrants
• Israel
• gender
• mobility
• integration

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the women who were willing to share their life stories with us, as well as the anonymous reviewers and Fassil Demissie for their comments and Prof. Joan Roland for her careful reading of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Jerusalem, 19 November 2014 report on Ethiopian–Israelis.

2. All names have been changed.

3. UN data sheet for Ethiopia.

4. Figurines began to be made in the 1960s by Ethiopian Jewish women in Wolleka cf. Kaplan and Rosen (1996).

5. The Israeli education system consists of three networks: the state, the state religious, and the Ultra-Orthodox. Until 1995, Ethiopian immigrant children were systematically schooled in the state religious sector.

6. Ethiopian immigrants currently arriving to Israel are Falashmoras, a group that converted to Christianity several decades ago. They enter Israel through family reunification, according to the Law of Entry, and undergo a shortened conversion to be recognized as full-fledged Jews. See Seeman (2009).

7. Jewish observant women immerse in a ritual bath, the mikveh, after menstruation, to resume sexual relations with their husband; a supervisor (balanit) checks that they carry out the immersion properly.

8. On Mizrahi feminism, see Motzafi-Haller (2001).