On our third to last day in Israel, WOFI Cohort 4 traveled south to the Israeli sanctioned Bedouin city of Rahat. It is populated solely by 55,000 Sunnis representing multiple generations of Bedouins, including those from traditional nomadic lifestyles. We were welcomed into the community center of Rahat, which served as a school, volunteering base as well as a sanctuary for community functions. The volunteer organizer, a twenty-seven year old woman named Chitam, provided us with an overview of life for the women of Rahat.
Chitam organizes multiple volunteer programs for six-hundred teens in Rahat. Supported by Israeli and American organizations, the community center empowers community members in fields such as health education and community beautification. One such organization within Rahat is ISHA, a women’s leadership and health education program partially funded by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. The entire community’s volunteering opportunities are organized by Chitam, with many women becoming deeply involved in this community’s structure through schooling and hands on experiences.
Chitam noted that the majority of students are women. In the gifted program, 90% are women. Rahat noted that after being developed by the Israeli government, Bedouin settlements such as Rahat have advanced culturally, stating that, “In general, people are absorbing and living a new, modern path…while having the tradition of the past.” Chitam further explained the development and struggle of Bedouin women in an advanced settlement such as Rahat. Specifically, the dissonance between the newfound independence the Bedouin settlements give individuals, especially women, contrasted with traditional, male-dominated family values. Chitam described to us what she saw as the beginning of the “women’s revolution in Rahat,” which grew with modern education. This contrasted particularly with traditional family life upheld by traditional-minded men still holding on to their ideal of a stay-at-home wives fully dependent on their husbands.
Chitam is still a minority within Rahat. Less than 20% of families support women advancing from the traditional roles of wives to occupational independence, yet she has hope as a youth educator, witnessing the more progressive growth of thought in young women. Out of all issues, I see the progress of women in all sectors of society as the most important in uplifting a society with deep roots in inequality. In talking with Chitam, I commend her in her struggle not against corporations, written laws etc. which implement sexism, but rather against aspects of the small world of this Bedouin settlement made up of tightly knit Hamoulas, or large families of 600-700 people living within a tribe or settlement. With an atmosphere where “the pressure is great to NOT advance,” Chitam’s role as an educator and mentor is key in the success and happiness of the women of her community, who may then then influence others worldwide. Chitam incited a pride I share with feminists worldwide, today.