european journal of social sciences issn: 1450-2267 - EuroJournals

European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 5, Number 3 (2007)
influence of higher education as it was manifested in the Druze women’s lives and in their narrative
identities. These aspects were affected both by the uniqueness of the women as the first in their
communities to achieve higher learning and by the intercultural transitions they experienced along the
way.
In order to obtain a better understanding of the Druze, I shall briefly attempt to shed some light
on Druze culture, followed by a partial overview of the woman’s place in Druze society:
The Druze Community: Tradition and Cultural Gender Roles
The Druze are a small and closed social and religious community. They live in high mountain villages
in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, constituting a small minority of the populations of these countries.
Despite some resemblance to the Arab population, and the fact that Druze speak Arabic, they form a
distinct group. Research studies, and the Druze themselves, have debated whether they are part of the
Arab world. The Druze religion is esoteric, and most of its precepts are kept secret from outsiders. One
well-known aspect of their religion is the belief in reincarnation. The Druze community has strong ties
to the land; they form a collective society and have extended patriarchal and patrilinear families (Katz,
1990; Layish, 1985), and a clear internal hierarchy with women at the bottom.
The status of women in the Druze family is inferior to that of men. They must dress modestly,
have no contact with strangers, and attend to housework and child rearing (Dwairy, 1998). 2 Women
must obey men. If the father is absent, they must obey their brothers or older male children. Women do
not play an active role in decision making within the family. Obeying or listening to women’s advice is
regarded as humiliating by the men (Barkat, 1985). The men of the family have absolute authority in
all decisions regarding women, and are responsible for them (Al-Haj, 1988).
Traditional norms compel women to remain physically close to home, prohibited from leaving
the villages without the escort and supervision of a male family member. Women cannot visit public
places, such as the theatre, cinemas, concerts, cafes, nor can they spend time shopping. Women and
girls must remain timid and ‘innocent’; they are forbidden to spend time in male company or to speak
to men who are not close relatives. The strength of these norms is achieved by a network of relatives
whose behavior gains legitimacy through the traditional code of family honor (Lewin-Epstein and
Semyonov, 1992).
The status of Druze women, as a whole, has not been affected by changes in surrounding
societies, and, although during the past few years significant role changes have taken place (mainly due
to the changes brought on by the educated women), most Druze women conform to the cultural norms.
Entering Higher Education
The first Druze women who sought higher education, breached traditional norms and gender roles:
they had to leave the village, despite traditional prohibitions, and to study in the company of men. The
women not only encountered strong opposition from friends and relatives, but as a result, some of their
families were ostracized by the village community and expelled from the Druze religion. Although this
punishment is intended solely for murderers and adulterers, the religious leaders chose to use it against
the first women students and their families. People of the Druze community did not speak to the
excommunicated family and did not attend their weddings or funerals. Nihaya, one of the interviewees
explained: “Even a cup of coffee, even a glass of water, may not be drunk in the house of an ostracized
woman.”
During the mid-1980s, the first Druze women from villages in the vicinity of Haifa University
enrolled. During the 1990s, women from villages farther away also applied. The distance between the
university and their villages obliged them to sleep away from home, thus infringing upon yet another
2
Since there are very few studies of Druze women, the findings of research on women in Arab society have also been included where relevant, due to the
similarity in customs and lifestyle between the Druze and the Arabs.
23