This study analyzes the experience of Palestinian mothers in Israel participating in a non-mandatory welfare-to-work program. The goal is to explore the perceptions of these women and their trainers about the ways the program helps enhance the mothers’ social capital. The study is based on in-depth interviews of 30 mothers and three trainers who participated in the program. The findings expose a range of mothers’ voices. The three main ones are: encouraging empowerment more than Work First; encouraging ‘maternal’ jobs; and encouraging partnership and group cohesion. The combined voices of participants and trainers deepen the significance of these findings, as the latter play a meaningful role in enhancing the social capital and networking capabilities of the former, who suffer from multiple sources of exclusion, including a vulnerable ethno-national status, poverty, low income and gender.
AbramovitzM (2006) Welfare reform in the United States: Gender, race and class matter. Critical Social Policy26(2): 336–364.
2.
Abu-BakerK (2016) Gender policy in family and society among Palestinian citizens of Israel: Outside and inside influences In: Ben-RafaelESchoepsJSternbergYGlöcknerO (eds) Handbook of Israel: Major Debates. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, pp. 453–473.
3.
Abu-Rabia-QuederS (2019) The biopolitics of declassing Palestinian professional women in a settler-colonial context. Current Sociology67(1): 141–158.
4.
AguileraMBMasseyDS (2003) Social capital and the wages of Mexican migrants: New hypotheses and tests. Social Forces82(2): 671–701.
5.
AlbeldaR (2011) Time binds: US antipoverty policies, poverty, and the well-being of single mothers. Feminist Economics17(4): 189–214.
6.
BenjaminO (2003) The power of unsilencing: Between silence and negotiation in heterosexual relationships. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour33(1): 1–19.
7.
BennettH (2017) Re-examining British welfare-to-work contracting using a transaction cost perspective. Journal of Social Policy46(1): 129–148.
8.
BourdieuP (1986) The forms of capital In: RichardsonJG (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. Westport, CT: Greenwood, pp. 241–258.
9.
BreitkreuzRSWilliamsonDL (2012) The self-sufficiency trap: A critical examination of welfare-to-work. Social Service Review86(4): 660–689.
10.
BriggsXS (1998) Brown kids in white suburbs: Housing mobility and the many faces of social capital. Housing Policy Debate9(1): 177–221.
11.
BriggsXS (2003) Bridging networks, social capital, and racial segregation in America. Working Papers Series RWP02-011, Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government.
12.
CharmazK (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage.
13.
DesmondM (2012) Disposable ties and the urban poor. American Journal of Sociology117(5): 1295–1335.
14.
DodsonLFreemanASattarF (2012) What it takes: Deep engagement to promote single mothers’ social mobility. In: Disrupting Poverty Cycle: Emerging Practices to Achieve Economic Mobility. Boston: Crittenton Women’s Union/Simmons College, pp 48–53.
15.
DomínguezSWatkinsC (2004) Creating networks for survival and mobility: Social capital among African-American and Latin-American low-income mothers. Social Problems50(1): 111–135.
16.
EdinKLeinL (1997) Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low-Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
17.
ErikssonMDahlgrenLJanlertU, et al. (2010) Social capital, gender and educational level: Impact on self-rated health. The Open Public Health Journal3: 1–12.
18.
GallagherSK (2007) Agency, resources, and identity. Gender & Society21(2): 227–249.
19.
HaidarA (2005) Arab Society in Israel: Populations, Society, Economy. Report. Jerusalem: Van Leer Institute (Hebrew).
20.
Haj-YahiaMM (1995) Toward culturally sensitive intervention with Arab families in Israel. Contemporary Family Therapy17(4): 429–447.
21.
HasanM (2002) The politics of honor: Patriarchy, the state and the murder of women in the name of family honor. The Journal of Israeli History21(1–2): 1–37.
22.
HerbstA (2013) Welfare mom as warrior mom: Discourse in the 2003 single mothers protest in Israel. Journal of Social Policy42(1): 129–145.
23.
HerbstABenjaminO (2016) Between activation and supporting women: Alternative operation of welfare-to-work programs. Journal of Social Policy and Administration50(5): 501–519.
24.
Herbst-DebbyA (2019) The economically responsible single mom who sees to her future: Welfare-to-work programs and pension savings. Journal of Social Policy48(3): 489–510.
25.
HerzogH (2010) Alternative spaces: Politics of the everyday life of Israeli-Palestinian women in mixed cities In: Abu-Rabia-QuederSWeiner-LevyN (eds) Palestinian Women in Israel: Identity, Power Relations and Coping Strategies. Jerusalem: Van Leer Institute, pp. 148–174 (Hebrew).
26.
ICBS (Israel Central Bureau of Statistics) (2018) Labor force survey data, December, fourth quarter and annual data of 2017. Available at: www.cbs.gov.il/www/hodaot2018n/20_18_029e.docx (Hebrew).
27.
KandiyotiD (1988) Bargaining with patriarchy. Gender & Society2(3): 274–290.
28.
KortewegAC (2003) Welfare reform and the subject of the working mother: ‘Get a job, a better job, then a career.’Theory and Society32(4): 445–480.
29.
KrausVYonayYP (2018) Facing Barriers: Palestinian Women in a Jewish-Dominated Labor Market. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
30.
Krumer-NevoM (2016) Poverty-aware social work: A paradigm for social work practice with people in poverty. British Journal of Social Work46(6): 1793–1808.
31.
LieblichATuval-MashiachRZilberT (1998) Narrative Research: Reading, Analyzing and Interpretation. Applied Social Research Methods Series, 47. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
32.
LoweJ (2012) Poverty and social networks: The role social networks play in economic mobility. In: Disrupting Poverty Cycle: Emerging Practices to Achieve Economic Mobility. Boston: Crittenton Women’s Union/Simmons College, pp. 31–36.
33.
LoweJK (2014) Creating Supplemental Networks for Low-Income Women: Social Ties Embedded Within Social Service Organizations. Boston: Northeastern University.
34.
McDonaldS (2011) What’s in the ‘old boys’ network? Accessing social capital in gendered and racialized networks. Social Networks33(4): 317–330.
35.
McDonaldSDayJC (2010) Race, gender, and the invisible hand of social capital. Sociology Compass4(7): 532–543.
36.
MalkiS (2011) The role of public transportation in work force penetration by women from Israel’s Arab population. Fellows Program, Koret Milken Institute. Available at: www.mifellows.org/research/HEB_F/45-HB-F.pdf (Hebrew).
37.
MelerT (2014) Currencies of social support: Israeli-Palestinian widows and divorcées in their families and communities. Comparative Sociology13(3): 315–345.
38.
MelerT (2017) The Palestinian family in Israel: Simultaneous trends. Marriage & Family Review54(8): 781–810.
39.
MelerT (2018) Palestinian women citizens of Israel working in agriculture – A retrospective concerning Ibtisam Ibrahim’s 1993 article ‘The Cucumber Pickers’. ISR (Israel Studies)23(2): 74–94.
40.
MiaariSKhattabN (2013) The persistent wage gaps between Palestinians and Jews in Israel, 1997–2009 In: KhattabNMiaariS (eds) Palestinians in the Israeli Labor Market. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 61–84.
41.
MillarJRidgeT (2009) Relationships of care: Working lone mothers, their children and employment sustainability. Journal of Social Policy38(1): 103–121.
42.
MonroePATillerVV (2001) Commitment to work among welfare-reliant women. Journal of Marriage and Family63(3): 816–828.
43.
MorgenS (2004) The agency of welfare workers: Negotiating devolution, privatization, and the meaning of self-sufficiency. American Anthropologist103(3): 747–761.
44.
OfferS (2005) Social support, coping and economic status. Journal of Marriage and Family67(1): 122–140.
45.
OfferSSabahM (2011) Individual and familial determinants of married Arab Israeli women’s labor force participation: Trends of change and stability. Marriage & Family Review47(5): 326–343.
46.
PulkinghamJFullerSKershawP (2010) Lone motherhood, welfare reform and active citizen subjectivity. Critical Social Policy30(2): 267–291.
47.
ReinharzS (1992) Feminist Methods in Social Research. New York: Oxford University Press.
48.
Sa’arA (2001) Lonely in your firm grip: Women in Israeli-Palestinian families. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute7(4): 723–739.
49.
Sa’arA (2007) Contradictory location: Assessing the position of Palestinian women citizens of Israel. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies3(3): 45–74.
50.
Sa’arA (2016) Economic Citizenship: Neoliberal Paradoxes of Empowerment. New York: Berghahn Books.
51.
Sabbah-KarkabiMStierH (2017) Links between education and age at marriage among Palestinian women in Israel: Changes over time. Studies in Family Planning48(1): 23–38.
52.
ShavitYFriedmanIGalJVakninD (2018) Emerging early childhood inequality: On the relationship between poverty, sensory stimulation, child development, and achievement. Policy Brief (June). Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, Jerusalem.
53.
SmallLM (2006) Neighborhood institutions as resource brokers: Childcare centers, interorganizational ties, and resource access among the poor. Social Problems53(2): 274–292.
54.
SmithSS (2005) ‘Don’t put my name on it’: Social capital activation and job-finding assistance among the black urban poor. American Journal of Sociology111(1): 1–57.
55.
SmoohaS (2001) Arab-Jewish relations in Israel as a Jewish democratic state In: YaarEShavitZ (eds) Trends in Israeli Society, Vol. 1. Raanana: Open University in Israel, pp. 231–364 (Hebrew).
56.
StackC (1974) All Our Kin. New York: Basic Books.
57.
WarrDJ (2006) Gender, class, and the art and craft of social capital. Sociological Quarterly47(3): 497–520.
58.
WeigtJStateC (2006) Compromises to carework: The social organization of mothers’ experiences in the low-wage labor market after welfare reform. Social Problems53(3): 332–351.
59.
WhitworthA (2013) Lone parents and welfare-to-work in England: A spatial analysis of outcomes and drivers. Social Policy and Administration47(7): 826–845.
60.
WrightS (2012) Welfare-to-work, agency and personal responsibility. Journal of Social Policy41(2): 309–328.
