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tradition of keeping women out of the workforce, their continuing concentration in the agri-
cultural sector, and competition from new immigrants and, recently, from foreign workers.
Educational disparities persist, too. On average, Israeli Jews receive three years more educa-
tion than do Israeli Arabs, down from a difference of more than four years in the 1970s. Within
the Arab community, there are also differences. Christians are the best educated, with 27 per-
cent completing twelve years of school, compared to only 14 percent among Muslims and
Druze. Among Christians, education rates are the same for men and women; among Muslims,
the rates are higher for men (16 percent, compared to 11 percent of women). But more and
more Arabs are attending school for longer: 79 percent of Arabs aged fourteen to seventeen
attend or have attended school (compared to 29 percent in 1970), and 96 percent of Jews; and
dropout rates in the Arab schools (12 percent) are double those in the Hebrew schools (6 per-
cent). In 2008, roughly 39 percent of Arab Muslims took the matriculation exams compared
with approximately 57 percent of Christians, 48 percent of Druze, and 54 percent of Jews who
were eligible. The discrepancy in education is most visible at the university level, with Arabs
representing less than 10 percent of all students in the universities.
Budget allocations to Jewish schools are signifi cantly higher than those to Arab schools.
Part of the problem with resource allocation is that Arab municipalities are notoriously negli-
gent in collecting property taxes from residents, which means that they lack money to fi nance
services and projects. Arabs also have fewer voluntary organizations to raise money. Divisions
Israeli Arab students sit and rest by the gate of the Ben-Gurion University in the southern Israeli town of
Beer Sheba. Over 17,000 students are enrolled at the university. (Photo by Serge Attal/Flash90. Serge
Attal / Flash90.)
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