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A large representative sample (N=20,816) of Israeli Jewish high school students served to explore differences between coeducational and same-sex schools in advanced math and science courses. Data were obtained from the Israeli population census of 1995 and from the Israeli Ministry of Education. Results from logistic regressions suggest that girls at all-female state religious schools did not differ from girls at coeducational state schools in placement in advanced math, physics and biology courses. But girls at all-female religious schools took advanced computer science courses at a much higher rate than girls at coeducational schools. This finding is attributed to a different curricular policy and not directly to the allfemale environment.

The worldwide expansion and diversification of higher education systems has sparked growing interest in the stratification of students according to higher education institution and field of study. This article focuses on Israel, where higher education has experienced significant expansion and diversification during the past two decades. Using generalized ordered logistic regression models, the study analyses vertical and horizontal ethno-religious inequality. The findings indicate that Ashkenazim, the privileged Jewish group, remain the most advantaged regarding enrollment in higher education, but their advantage over other veteran Jewish groups is mainly owing to areas of specialization in high school and achievement on the tests that serve as admission criteria to the higher education institutions. Among the enrollees, controlling for high school history reveals that the disadvantaged Jewish groups, Mizrachim and new immigrants, have higher odds than Ashkenazim of enrolling in lucrative programmes. Muslim, Druze, and Christian Arabs are disadvantaged regarding both the vertical (access) and horizontal (fields of study) dimensions, regardless of high school history and previous achievements.

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Secularism and liberalism are often perceived as interlinked and associated with the process of modernization and liberal democracy. Studies of Israel, however, cast doubts on this linkage as in spite of a rapid secularization of the public sphere anti-liberal and ethnocentric attitudes remain entrenched and it is described by researchers as a "non-liberal democracy". This paper follows recent works on secularization that defines the process as a "bricolage" of beliefs and practices and proposes an analytical distinction between two identified forms of secularization: a "principled" secularism and secularism associated with "practices of everyday life". Our findings demonstrate, first, that secular practices, religious beliefs and religious practices can coexist within a "bricolage" of beliefs and behaviors. Second, secular practices related to "everyday life" are not necessarily related to a deeper belief system and values associated with liberalism so that the commercialization (and secularization) of the Israeli public sphere does not significantly change existing non-liberal perceptions and the structure of Israel as a "non-liberal democracy." Secularism (based on practices) and liberalism, in other words, can develop separately so that the secularization of the public sphere does not necessarily entail commitment to religious freedom, to toleration associated with liberalism and, consequently, to a liberal democracy.

Studies of secularization suggest it is a complex and multidimensional process and that secularization unfolds in different sets of identities, practices and values. But, in spite of its non-linear and non-coherent character, secularization it is not necessarily arbitrary and individualistic. Rather, as this work demonstrates, ethnic groups may be influenced by similar secularizing forces, but the impact of these forces will be different and different paths of secularization will take place. In this work, based on a survey conducted in March 2009 of a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel, we study three major ethnic groups in Israel to demonstrate how ethnicity influences the process of secularization measured in beliefs, practices and attitudes. Our findings demonstrate that ethnicity creates distinct paths of secularization with different changes of practices, beliefs and values. While for some ethnic groups secularization happens alongside a significant change in beliefs, practices and behaviors, for others religion remains significant and secularization is more partial, especially when measured in liberal values.