Relations of religious affiliation group norms, human capital, and autonomy to Israeli men's participation in household duties

• Published date: 01 October 2023
• Author: Ola Abu‐Hasan Nabwani
• Date: 01 October 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12749

RESEARCH

Relations of religious affiliation group norms, human

capital, and autonomy to Israeli men’s participation

in household duties

Ola Abu-Hasan Nabwani

Department of Human Services, Yezreel

Valley Academic College, Emek Yezreel, Israel

and Department of Multidisciplinary Studies,

Kinneret Academic College, Tzemach, Israel

Correspondence Ola Abu-Hasan Nabwani, PO

Box - 931, Julis village - 2498000, Israel.

Email: ola.nabwani@mail.huji.ac.il

Funding information

The Harry S. Truman Research Institute;

Kinneret Academic College, Research

Authority

[Correction added on August 29, 2022, after

first online publication: ‘Nabwani, O.A.H.’is

changed to ‘Abu-Hasan Nabwani O.’in How

to cite this article section.]

Abstract

Objective: In this work, I document variation in husbands’

participation in household duties, an indicator of gender

equality, by comparing ethnoreligious affiliation group,

human capital, and autonomy.

Background: Scholars posit a relationship between religios-

ity and traditional gender relations, impacted by cultural

norms and women’s human capital. Israel’s diverse

ethnoreligious landscape provides an excellent context for

empirically evaluating posited relationships.

Method: The study analyzed quantitative data from the

Israel Social Survey on 1,900 married women (1,529 Jews

and 371 Arabs).

Results: Husbands of Arab women were 83% less likely

than husbands of Jewish women to share household duties.

Among Jewish couples, husbands of traditional-religious

women were 29% less likely than husbands of secular

women to share household duties. Further, among Jewish

couples, there was no difference in husbands’sharing of

household duties between ultra-Orthodox women and sec-

ular women. Among Arabs, Druze husbands were almost

3 times more likely to participate than Muslim husbands.

Among Arab Muslims, religious husbands were 2.40 times

more likely to share household duties than nonreligious

Muslims.

Conclusion: Findings support C. Goldscheider’s culture

hypothesis, suggesting that the uniqueness of the affiliation

group is most important. However, although human capi-

tal did not strongly moderate husbands’participation,

women’s autonomy did.

Implication: Public policy should be sensitive to differences

between ethnoreligious groups in supporting gender equal-

ity. For instance, policy makers should encourage religious

leaders to preach values that promote such equality.

Received: 28 December 2020Revised: 14 April 2022Accepted: 20 May 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12749

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2023;72:1725–1747. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 1725

KEYWORDS

Arab women, autonomy, gender, human capital, men’s participation in

household duties, religiosity

INTRODUCTION

According to some sociological theories (e.g., F. Goldscheider et al., 2015), an essential step

toward gender equality is men’s participation in household duties and women’s entrance into

the workforce. Women’s and men’s equal participation in household duties is one factor

through which gender equality can be achieved. Moreover, the creation of a partnership

between men and women in the private sphere helps strengthen families (F. Goldscheider

et al., 2015). In this regard, scholars have documented recent changes in men’s attitudes and

behavior regarding household participation in Israel, the setting of this study (Kulik,2007;

Yaish et al., 2021). However, there is little empirical evidence that norms of affiliation groups

(religion, religiosity, and ethnicity) may be related to such changes or empirical studies compar-

ing traditional and liberal populations. Little is also known about the role of human capital

(education and employment) and autonomy in moderating the relationship between affiliation

group norms and husbands’participation in household duties. Given the importance of such

participation on the path to gender equality, understanding such factors is an essential academic

and policy-relevant endeavor.

A novel contribution of this paper is its focus on the husband’s participation in household

tasks through a comparison across different ethnoreligious affiliation groups of Jewish and

Arab families in Israel. This issue is particularly worthy of investigation among Arab women in

Israel, who suffer intersecting marginalized identities and structural disadvantages (Kraus &

Yonay, 2018). The gender disparities between Arab couples and Jewish couples are consider-

able: For instance, the gap in labor force participation between men and women is 40% for

Arabs and only 3% for Jews (Mandel & Birgier, 2016).

While most empirical studies examining gender equality emphasize female labor force par-

ticipation (Bianchi et al., 2012), other factors related to the division of household labor need to

be considered. In comparing the two Israeli populations, I ran logistic regressions on data from

the Israel Social Survey (ISS), looking for differences between religions and self-defined levels

of religiosity. I also delved deeper into each ethnic group, comparing subgroups of Jews by reli-

giosity (from ultra-Orthodox to secular) and subgroups of Arabs by religion (Muslims, Druze,

and Christians). Finally, I concentrated on two subgroups: ultra-Orthodox Jews and Muslim

Arabs.

In examining gender equality, studies point to the importance of considering individual-

level heterogeneity, such as the number of children, employment prospects, education

(Bianchi et al., 2012; Hook, 2010), and income (Le, 2022). The individual, microlevel nature

of the survey data used in the current research enables the simultaneous examination of

human capital (i.e., education and employment) and autonomy (i.e., having a driver’s license

and using a computer). Individual-level data also allow the study of husbands’participation

in household duties by attitudes about shared household duties, religious affiliation, and level

of religiosity. The focus on individuals complements the more common macrolevel studies of

women’slives,focusing,forexample,onnormsorpublicpoliciesatthenationallevel

(Bianchi et al., 2012; Hook, 2010). In short, this study examines how women’s affiliation

group, human capital, autonomy, and attitudes about shared household duties are related to

men’s propensity to participate in such tasks. It also investigates whether women’shuman

capital and autonomy moderate relations between affiliation group norms and husbands’

participation.

1726 FAMILY RELATIONS