Deborah Bernstein

Emotional politics in cleaning work: The case of Israel

Emotional politics instil insecurity and doubt in working-class individuals. Researchers examining social degradation through (bad) employment or other stigma have demonstrated the exclusionary impact of this process. Some suggest that individuals respond to such emotional politics and other types of exclusion by identity-management strategies aiming at a sense of worth, whereas others have found self-isolation to dominate. Here we analyse the emotional politics emerging from women’s responses to exclusion in the socially degraded field of cleaning in three ethno-national contexts in Israel. The sample was composed of Mizrahi women in the southern periphery, immigrants from the Former Soviet Union and Israeli-Palestinian women from Arab settlements in the north. By analysing cleaning employees’ talk, we characterize these women’s struggle to derive a sense of worth from their breadwinning experience within a specific ethno-national context in terms of family, community and workplace. We discuss the similarities and differences among these three groups with regard to the relative weight of each of these circles for negotiation of belonging and inclusion.

Economic growth and female labour: the case of Israel

This article aims to demonstrate the relation between the participation and location of women in the Israeli labour force and economic-structural processes central to the development of the Israeli economy. It begins with a discussion of the main features of the economic growth of Israeli society, indicating the implications of these features for female labour. The overall pattern of female participation in the labour force is then discussed, noting the main shifts in this pattern and their significance, followed by a more detailed presentation of the position of women in a number of economic branches—the textile and clothing industries, education and welfare services, finance and trade. The sexual division of labour is further examined according to the difference between Ashkenazi and Oriental women of first and second generations. Finally, a concluding discussion assesses the significance of women to the economy and the implications of their position within the economy to their future prospects.

Echoes of domestic silence: mechanisms of concealment in cases of ‘Family Honour Killings’ in Mandate Palestine

Abstract This article deals with the manner in which family and community in Mandate Palestine attempted to keep the criminal justice system from intervening in cases defined as ‘Family Honour Killing’. Drawing on criminal court cases, we argue that the familial, domestic and communal features of this crime and its social, predominantly rural, context were critical for the attempts to keep it within the community and to prevent state intervention by obstructing, concealing and denying evidence. We focus on the mechanisms used by members of the family and community for that purpose. Our case study is in line with previous findings indicating the under-reporting of domestic violence, especially when witnesses were closely related to both the victim and the perpetrator. This domestic and communal alignment was most likely reinforced under colonial rule, though it was not necessarily caused predominantly in opposition to it.