Druze Women and Gender in Druze Society: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This systematic literature review on Druze women and gender in Druze society reviews central conceptual themes from existing publications to chart future research trajectories. Using a meta-ethnographic methodology, this literature review covers Druze women’s experience of gendered realities in higher education, economic participation, marriage, family life, and health. Our systematic literature review allows us to offer two propositions on existing published knowledge pertaining to Druze women and gender in Druze society. First, we propose that scholarship on Druze women and gender in Druze society constructs Druze women’s experience of gender as not only discursive but material. We incorporate the process of women’s relationship with prohibitive mechanisms of gendered space and men’s experience of masculinist subjectification into an existing term: the spatialization of everyday life. Second, quantitative analysis reveals a disparity in publications between Israel and other countries such as Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. We propose that this disparity relates to the concept of “Druze particularism” while emphasizing their difference vis-à-vis Islamic religion and Arab culture. We suggest that future research thoroughly covers other national contexts and inter-national comparisons of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the diaspora, especially in education, economy, and health. Future research trajectories could include examining contemporary sociolegal research on the legal regime that governs family life, research on Druze men from an explicitly feminist perspective, or publications of influential Druze women.

“We Need to Raise Awareness and Never Give Up”: Israeli Druze and Muslim Arab Kindergarten Teachers’ Proactivity When Facing the Sexual Abuse of Their Students

“…However, intervention processes in conservative closed communities can be challenging and complicated due to possible negative reactions from the close surroundings. Both the Druze and Muslim kindergarten teachers confirmed the complexity described in previous research [29,53]. When sharing their personal perceptions of religious values on intervention processes in cases of CSA, the Muslim kindergarten teachers emphasized the obstacles their religious community poses to CSA prevention and intervention processes among their students (e.g., [30,32]).…”

“…The traditional characteristics of Arab society emphasize patriarchy, collectivism, chastity, and family honor [29][30][31]. The dependence nature embedded in the family structure in traditional societies makes the family the main source of protection for the individual.…”

Stigma related to breast cancer among women and men: The case of the Druze minority in Israel

“…The eligibility criteria included women and men aged 18 or older who belong to the Druze population. Since the Druze community is traditionally patriarchal (Barakat et al, 2018; Zeedan and Luce, 2021), to explore whether there are differences between Druze women and men, it seemed important to compare the incidence and levels of stigma between the groups. If Druze men were found to hold stigma on breast cancer, in the context of a patriarchal society, this could explain, to some extent, why early detection rates are relatively low for women.…”