Paper short abstract:

This paper provides an exploration of the ultra-orthodox (haredi) community in Israel. In particular it examines how the introduction of new study tracks in women's education is changing the role of women as mothers and workers within the ultra-orthodox family and community.

Paper long abstract:

The ultra-orthodox (haredi) community in Israel is the representative of the most traditional stream of orthodox Judaism and its life and mores originate from Jewish religious law (halakhah). Ethnographers and anthropologists have explored this community and its understanding of reality, where biological differences between sexes are determinant for the characterization of gender and family roles (Hardacre 1993; El-Or, 2005). In particular, women, entrusted with the care of the children and the household, are traditionally cut off from the main sources of power in ultra-orthodox society - prayer and study - and relegated to the private, familial domain (El-Or 1993). Following a fieldwork among the ultra-orthodox community in Jerusalem, I attempt to describe how, through a development of the educational system, and the resulting entrance of many women in the Israeli labor market, women's and men's roles are extensively being redefined within the ultra-orthodox community. My aim is to provide a closer image of a sector of the ultra-orthodox community in Israel, where, along the last two decades, a shift has been made from a traditional set of values, tied to the inner, religious world of the community, to a more secular one, rather linked to surrounding Israeli society. Now, more and more women are demanding for a greater domestic involvement from their husbands, in return for the financial support they provide. These demands are precisely the element that is subverting the feminine categorization of the domestic sphere, weakening traditional masculinity, and moulding new schemes in gender and family relationships.