Equality of Muslim Women in Israel as Reflected in Shari'a Court Records 1951-1961

Abstract

The article examines transformations in the status of Muslim women in Arab society in Israel following the implementation of the Women's Equal Rights Law– 1951. It further examines public reactions in the Arab community in Israel to this law and to subsequent legislation pertaining to women’s status passed and/or proposed during the 1950s and 1960s. The study takes a historical approach, drawing upon sources such as print media coverage, personal interviews with qadis, letters preserved in the Israel State Archives, and court records. An attempt was made, inter alia, to gauge the attitudes of Muslim women in Israel toward the new gender equality laws, on the one hand, and the attitudes of the State of Israel towards the Muslim minority living within it, on the other hand. Findings point to a certain improvement in the status of Muslim women in Israel over the years - the 1950s and 1960s constituting a major turning point in this regard – including a profound increase in women's awareness in Muslim society resulting from their exposure to Israeli civil society. On the other hand, some aspects of patriarchal Muslim Arab society, reinforced by Shari’a law, have proven to be more resistant to change, thus confining Arab women to their traditional, and often disadvantaged, status, most notably in the realm of inheritance law.