Academia, Gender, and Culture: Motivations, and Coping Methods of Haredi Women in Academia

This chapter examines the associations between gender, culture, and higher education, through a case study of the integration process of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) women in Israel’s system of higher education, representing the clash between the traditional-religious values of Haredi society and the modern value systems of western-Israeli society. The chapter analyses the women’s motivations for studying in academia, the challenges they encounter, and their coping methods during their studies, in light of the unique gender-cultural status of Haredi women and influential systems in their close and wider vicinity, in the context of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory. In addition, the chapter explores the features of Haredi society and its values, which project on the unique status and gender role of women in this society and on the difficulties, they encounter when deciding to pursue academic studies as well as in their process. Understanding the processes these women undergo may help understand the needs of Haredi women in academia and make it possible to adapt study settings to these needs in order to help them complete their studies and earn an academic degree. In the long range, the role of these women as “ambassadors” within their communities, influencing the same systems that had an impact on them, might serve as a model for Haredi women engaged in studies and for expanding their employment in areas required by the economy, as well as for its development. The case of Haredi women blazing a new trail to the world of higher education might also project on other societies of a traditional nature, where gender and culture dictate defined patterns of action for individuals even in sociocultural systems that they perceive as distant from them.