An Empirical Model: Jewish and Muslim Women Students in Israel Gaining Empowerment Through Higher Education

Abstract

The constitutive statement if knowledge is power? Was an inspiration to the construction of an empirical model to understand if the juxtaposition of social powers (gender and religious regulation) with knowledge (higher education) can be found to yield self-and gender empowerment and was tested among 435 participants: religious and non-religious Jewish and Muslim women. They completed a self-reporting questionnaire (1-5 Likert scale), indicating the existence of a significant empirical SEM model. This confirmed the research hypothesis: gender regulation predicts religiosity, which in turn predicts a stronger perception of higher education as a resource, enhancing self-and gender empowerment. Significant differences were found, by religions, among the groups in the model's variables. This paper could demonstrate how higher education provides a space allowing and challenging empowerment as a dynamic, socio-cultural empirical model.