2024-08-02 11:37:50
“It required mental energy to research such a topic,” said Dr. Fahima Abbas, who researched divorced women in Arab society for the Adwa Center, ‘Davar’ The research takes an in-depth look at the housing supply for divorced women in Arab Societies and the conclusion is that these women can find suitable housing solutions on the free market extremely limited The study also found that it is difficult for those who applied for help from the state authorities to get adequate help, and that many of them get worse. into poverty and distress.
Dr. Fahima Abbas (photo: private album)
The research took a long time. Many divorced women refused to cooperate. Finally, the survey is based on 43 women, most of them from the upper-middle class. “It is not easy for women to go through a divorce. It may be a violent background, there may be a conflict between the couple, it is something that does not really exist to go to a situation where we divorce but still remain friends.”
More divorce
In the last 20 years, the divorce rate in Arab society has increased. “From 2005 to 2019, the divorce rate in Arab society rose from 5.7 divorces per 1,000 marriages to 8.4,” describes Abbas. According to her, the increase in divorces is related to several processes that affect society in general.
“More Arabs have integrated into the labor market and the level of education of women has also increased,” explains Abbas. “Women have become more aware of their personal freedom and their ability to decide whether or not to divorce, to leave the marriage framework, especially if the divorce framework did not suit her and the stability she needs. that, this process of personal freedom also affects women and gives them more power to really decide whether they want a divorce or not.”
Another aspect is the withdrawal of the state since the 1980s in the provision of social services, which affected Arab people and women in particular, according to Abbas. According to her, it was precisely the poor economic conditions that caused more divorces, because if in any case it is not good for the woman, the divorce can only be good, and if the economic situation bad – she has nothing to lose. .”
Abbas says that the social status and labeling of divorce or not divorce is significant in the middle class, which wants to maintain the appearance of ‘everything is fine’. Unlike the rabbinical institution in Israel, it is simpler to get a divorce among Muslims.
The lack of housing solutions for women draws families into criminal organizations
Crime and violence in Arab society is also linked to the topic of divorce in the study. According to Abbas, the Ministry of Housing provides rental assistance after three months to those who submit documents accordingly, and during this time the criminal organizations provide free housing to create a debt that binds the divorced women to them. She also says that there are places that are controlled by criminal organizations, that build special buildings dedicated to divorced women and their children, that create an environment that makes it difficult to get out of crime and continue to function normally.
“In the research, I referred to three circles: one circle of state policy – land expropriation and discriminatory housing policy. The second circle – free market policy which also affects Jewish society and makes it very difficult for It does not give them options to buy houses because of the increase in prices. It is more difficult for a woman to have a house, because there is a lot of expropriation of land and it means here the man builds the house and it is usually registered in the name of the head of the family, and the construction is done in the same compound, so after the divorce he can only exercise his and she gets financial rights only not building rights.”
According to her, a woman should have solutions that will allow her to have a roof over her head immediately after the divorce. “There are some women today in the middle class, and there is an increase in education and employment, but we are talking about women who receive low wages. 63% of Arab women are employed in education and social work compared to 27% of Jewish women. , so their wages are low.”
Additional housing solutions, such as public housing, are almost non-existent in Arab society. “You only have 0.3% of Arab society living in public housing. Renting or buying requires upfront capital that is not always available, and the rise in housing prices is having an effect across the country.”
In the complex case, Abbas describes the progress of the issue, and gives an example of how in the past participation in the rent was not given if you lived with the family, and today you get help if you separated.
The summary of the study says that the starting point for divorced Arab women who want to find adequate housing after the divorce is more challenging: “Divorced Arab women suffer from an oppressive mix of social structures, which operate discriminatory, exclusionary, oppressive and marginalizing mechanisms, this in light of their dual affiliation with the Arab minority in the Jewish state and with the group of women in a patriarchal society, and in light of neoliberal policies that allow them to find solutions independently in the ‘free market’, in which they have entered a position disadvantaged from the start, along with reduced social services.”
The study offers policy recommendations that can help divorced Arab women:
- Promote outline plans for the establishment of new Arab settlements and new residential neighborhoods in Arab settlements with quality city services.
- Increase the representation of women, including Arab women, in government bodies, to integrate gender thinking into the planning of Arab settlements.
- Update on the list of “small settlements” and “large settlements” that the Ministry of Housing examiners refer to for rental assistance, which affects the amount of assistance.
- Raising the maximum income threshold to receive rental assistance.
- Increase the rental assistance amount of the Ministry of Housing, and adjust it at least with the increase in housing prices. In the meantime, the assistance given to women victims of violence must be increased.
- Provide rental assistance to divorced Arab women who return to live in their parents’ home or move to another relative’s home. This is especially so given the fact that some of them pay rent in these cases as well.
- Increase the stock of apartments for public housing in Arab settlements and Arab neighborhoods in mixed cities, and designate some of the apartments for single-parent women.
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