However, the dramatic and far-reaching increase in women's educational achievements and in their labour force participation, which

characterizes all industrialized societies in the twentieth century, has also been evident in Israel. At present, there are no gender differences in years of schooling attained among young Jews and Arabs. Increased percentages of females among university students and among degree recipients further emphasize this trend. Yet, women are still under-represented in key positions in schools and among faculty members in higher education institutions. Moreover, women in Israel have increased their participation in the paid labour market Israeli government has repeatedly described itself as a liberal democracy,. systemic discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel have been widely documented. The civil rights of Arab citizens of Israel has improved in recent decades.

Nevertheless, Israel remains a family oriented society with high priorities placed on gender segregated family roles in both Jewish and Arab communities (Fogeiel-Bijaoui 1999, Herzog 1998). Working outside the home and having a small family does not automatically extricate women from their obligations to their children, husbands, or parents. As numerous studies have illustrated, when women work in part-time jobs, in gender segregated occupations, and retain responsibilities for household activities, working outside the home may extend gender inequality and result in a "double burden" on women rather than in their empowerment and increased independence from the control of men (Blossfeld and Hakim 1997, Kraus 2002, Abu Baker 2002). On the other hand, the ongoing trend amongst women in Israel in the past two decades towards working full-time may indicate an important change in that respect (Cohen and Stier 2006).

Equality between men and women is one of the fundamental values of the Israeli judicial system. The Knesset (Israeli parliament) adopted the Women's Equal Rights Law in 1951. The Law declares that every man and woman have an equal right to live with dignity, including equality in work, education, schooling, health, housing, environment, and social welfare. The 1988 Law of Equal Opportunity prohibits an employer from discriminating against a woman in the following situations: hiring, working conditions, promotion, training and professional studies, dismissal,and employment retirement payments. The Law of Male and Female Workers Equal Pay of 1996 states that an employer must pay equal wages to a female and a male employee for equal or equivalent work. Laws mandating due representation of women in public bodies (i.e. government ministries, municipalities and local councils, municipal companies, and government owned companies), and in boards of directors of government owned companies, have been legislated since 1993. An amendment to the Family Courts Law was passed in October 2000, providing Muslim and Christian women access to civil family courts. The Domestic Violence Prevention Law of 1991, the court may issue a protection order ex parte, for the removal of a violent family member from the home. Several cities in Israel offer special shelters for victims of domestic violence referred by social welfare agencies. Under the Employment of Women Law of 1954, while staying at such a shelter, a woman may be absent from work and considered on unpaid leave. In July 2002, the Knesset passed the Recompense for Women in Shelters for Battered Women Law (Temporary Order), which entitles a woman residing in a shelter for at least 30 days to an adaptation grant for purchasing personal effects. The educational system in Israel is seen as central to a society which provides equal opportunities as well as the route to economic growth (Ben-David 2003). The system has undergone important changes over the years: the extension of compulsory education beyond the age of 14, structural changes in elementary and secondary schools, the Law of Free High School Education

(1978), and reforms aimed at improving the level of education and narrowing socio-economic gaps in society (Ayalon 2000). Since statehood, there has been a steady rise in the Jewish women labour force participation particularly since the 1970s, reflecting the increased levels of education of women, the changing labour market structure, and ethnic composition of the population. Some of the significant factors responsible for this trend, are economic growth coupled with the expansion of services, especially in the public sector, which created an increasing demand for non-manual occupations (Kraus 2002, p. 23). Increased levels of education and legislation ensuring equal rights for women in the paid market, as well as social policies which have encouraged married women to participate in the labour force, resulting in a rise of female labour force participation rates from 26.5% in 1955 to 49.6% in 2004, as illustrated in Figure 5. This increase has been most striking in the working patterns of mothers, mainly due to the opening up of opportunities for part-time employment, primarily in the service sector, and the greater availability of child care facilities.

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