Abstract
This study explored the family role expectationsof 14- and 15-year-old Palestinian young men and womenliving in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It wasanticipated that modernization, along with the youth's involvement in the intifada, thepopular uprising against Israeli occupation, hadfostered more liberal family role expectations among theyouth. The data were collected via questionnaire in1994-1995 from all of the ninth grade students attendingUnited Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schoolsin the West Bank. The students completed the Arabicquestionnaire at school and took home questionnaires for their mothers and their fathers. In Gaza,samples of the ninth grade students attending UNRWAschools and of those attending schools operated by thePalestinian Ministry of Education were selected. The students' response rates were over 90%,while mothers' and fathers' exceeded 80%. Overall, datawere collected from 7,000 Palestinian families. Theresults revealed that, contrary to our expectation, Palestinian youth desire and anticipate havingtraditional families very similar to those of theirparents. Interestingly, intifada participation was notassociated with a decrease in support for traditional family roles. There were significantdifferences between the boys' and girls' perceptions offuture gender roles in Palestinian society. The youngwomen expressed more liberal attitudes towards women's roles and participation in society, while atthe same time supporting traditional familyroles.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Abdo, N. (1991).Women of the Intifada:Gender, class, and national liberation. Race & Class, 32, 18–34.
Abu-Amr, Z. (1994). Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and G aza:Muslim Brotherho od and Islamic Jihad. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Amme rman, N. (1987). Bible believers. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Unive rsity Press.
Antonius, S. (1979). Fighting on two fronts: Conversations with Palestinian women. Jou rnal of Palestinian Studies, 8, 26–45.
Ata, I. W. (1986). The West Bank Palestinian family. New York: KPI Limited.
Badran, N. A. (1980). The means of survival: Education and the Pale stinian community, 1948– 1967. Jou rnal of Palestinian Studies, 9, 44–74.
Barakat, H. (1993). The Arab world: Society, culture, and state. Berkeley: Unive rsity of California Press.
Barber B. K. (1999). Political violence, family relations, and Pale stinian youth functioning. Jou rnal of Ado lescent Research, 14, 206–230.
Bronzaft, A. L. (1991). Caree r, marriage, and family aspirations of young black college women. The Journ al of Negro Edu cation, 60, 110–118.
Brusco, E. (1986). Columbian evangelicalism as a strate gic form of women’ s collective action. Fem inist Issues, 6, 3–13.
Darwe ish, M. (1989). The Intifada: Social change. Race & Class, 31, 47–61.
Ed-Din, N. A. (1982).Removing the veil and veiling: Lecture s and re fle ctions towards women’ s liberation and social re form in the Islamic world. Women’ s Studies Internatio nal Forum, 5, 221–226.
El-Saadawi, N. (1982). Woman and Islam. Women’ s Studies Internation al Forum, 5, 193–206.
Esposito, J. L. (1998). Introduction: Women in Islam and Muslim socie ties. Islam, gen der, & social ch an ge. New York: Oxford Unive rsity Press.
Fe rnea, E. W. (1998). In search of Islamic feminism. New York: Doubleday De ll.
Ghazale h, I. A. (1998). Gender in the poetry of the intifada. In S. Sabbah(Ed.), Palestinian women of G aza an d the West Bank. Bloomington: Indiana Unive rsity Press.
Goode, W. J. (1963). World revolution and family patterns. New York: The Fre e Press.
Hagan, J., & Kay, F. (1990). Gende r and delinquency in white-collar families: A power-control perspective. Crime and Delinquency, 36, 391–407.
Hill, G. D., & Atkinson, M. P. (1988). Gender, familial control, and delinquency. Criminology, 26, 127–149.
Hiltermann, J. R. (1991). The women’ s moveme nt during the uprising. Jou rnal of Palestinian Stud ies, 20, 48–57.
HjaÊ rpe, J. (1983). The attitude of Islamic fundamentalism towards the question of women in Islam. In B. Utas(Ed.), Women in Islamic societies: Social attitudes and historical perspectives. London: Curzon Pre ss.
Hudson, L. (1994). Coming of age in occupied Palestine: Engendering the Intifada. In F. M. GoÈ cË ek & S. Balaghi(Eds.), Recon structing gend er in the Midd le East: Tradition, iden tity, and power. New York: Columbia Unive rsity Pre ss.
Inkeles, A. (1996). Making men modern: On the cause s and consequence s of indiv-idual change in six deve loping countries. In A. Inkeles & M. Sasaki (Eds.), Comparing Nation s and Cultures: Readin gs in a Cross-Disciplinary Perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Inkeles, A., & Smith, D. (1974). Becoming modern. Cambridge: Harvard Unive rsity Press.
Jad, I. (1998). Patterns of relations whin the Pale stinian family during the intifada. In S. Sabbah(Ed.), Palestinian women of Gaz a and the West Bank. Bloomington: Indiana Unive rsity Press.
Kaufman, D. R. (1993). Rach el’ s daughters: Newly orthodox Jewish women. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Pre ss.
Kline, R. B. (1998). Princip les and practice of structu ral equ ation mod eling. New York: Guilford Pre ss.
Kuttab, D. (1988). Profiles of the stonethrowers. The Jou rnal of Palestinian Stud ies, 67, 14–23.
Lytton, H., & Romne y, D. M. (1991). Pare nts’ differential socialization for boys and girls: A me ta-analysis. Psych ological Bulletin, 109, 267–296.
Mar’ i, M. M. (1983). Sex role percep tions of Palestinian males an d females in Israel. Doctoral dissertation, East Lansing: Michigan State Unive rsity.
Mar’ i, S. (1978). Arab edu cation in Israel. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Unive rsity Press.
Marshall, S. (1984). Paradoxe s of change: Culture crisis, Islamic revival, and the reactiviation of patriarchy. Journ al of Asian an d African Stud ies, 19, 1–17.
Minai, N. (1981). Women in Islam: Trad ition an d transition in the Middle East. New York: Seaview Books.
Najjar, O. A. (1992). Portraits of Palestinian women. Salt Lake City: Unive rsity of Utah Pre ss.
Oberme ye r, C. M. (1992). Islam, women, and politics: The demography of Arab countries. Popu lation and Developmen t Review, 18, 33–60.
Palmer, M. (1987). The conceptualization and design of survey instruments for use in the Arab world. In M. A. Tessle r, M. Palmer, T. E. Farah, & B. L. Ibrahim(Eds.), The evaluatio n an d application of survey research in the Arab world (pp. 102–135). Boulder, CO: Westview.
Pedersen, B. R. (1983). Oppressive and liberating e lements in the situation of Pale stinian women. In B. Utas(Ed.), Women in Islamic so cieties: Social attitudes an d historical persp ectives. London: Curzon Press.
Prothro, E. T., & Diab, L. N. (1974). Changin g family patterns in the Arab East. Be irut: American Unive rsity Press.
Rapoport, T., Lomski-Feder, E., & Masalha, M. (1989). Female subordination in the Arab-Israeli community: The adolescent perspe ctive of ``social ve il.” Sex Roles, 20, 255 – 269.
Roberson, M. K. (1992). Birth, transformation, and death of refugee identity: Women and girls of the Intifada. Women an d Therap y, 13, 35–52.
Rockwell, S. (1994). Pale stinian women workers in the Gaza Strip. In J. Curtis,& L. Tepperman (Eds.), Have an d have-no ts:An international reader on social inequ ality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Rosaldo, M. (1974). Women, culture and society: A theoretical ove rview. In M. Rosaldo & L. Lamphe re(Eds.), Women, cu lture, an d so ciety. Stanford: California Unive rsity Pre ss.
Rosen, B. C., & Aneshensel, C. S. (1978). Sex differences in the educational-occupational expectation process. Social Forces, 57, 164–186.
Sayigh, R. (1992). Introduction. In O. A. Najjar(Ed.), Portraits of Palestinian women. Salt Lake City: Unive rsity of Utah Pre ss.
Segine r, R., Karayanni, M., & Mar’ i, M. M. (1990). Adolescents’ attitudes toward women’ s roles: A comparison between Israe li Jews and Arabs. Psycho logy of Women Quarterly, 14, 119–133.
Shadid, M., & Seltze r, R. (1989). Student-youth difference s among Pale stinians in the We st Bank. Youth an d Society, 20, 445–460.
Shtarkshall, R. A. (1987). Motherhood as a dominant feature in the se lf-image of female adolescents of low socioeconomic status. Ado lescen ce, 22, 565 – 570.
Simmons, R. G., Bush, D. M., & Blyth, D. A. (1987). Gende r difference s in late childhood and early adolescence. In R. G. Simmons & D. A. Blyth(Eds.), Moving into ado lescen ce: The impact of pub ertal ch an ge and schoo l con text. New York: Aldine De Gruyte r.
Sirhan, B. (1975). Palestinian refuge e life in Lebanon. Journ al of Palestinian Studies, 4, 91–107.
Strum, P. (1998). We st Bank women and the intifada: revolution within the revolution. In S. Sabbah(Ed.), Palestinian women of Gaz a and the West Bank. Bloomington: Indiana Unive rsity Press.
Tallichet, S. E., & Willits, F. K. (1986). Gende r-role attitude change of young women: Influential factors from a panel study. Social Psycho logy Quarterly, 49, 219–227.
Vandewiele, M. (1983). Perception of women’ s re ligious status by Senegale se adolescents. Psycho logical Reports, 53, 757–758.
Warnock, K. (1990). Land before hono ur. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Wolk, S., & Brandon, J. (1977). Runaway adolescents’ perceptions of parents and se lf. Adolescence, 12, 175–187.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fronk, C., Huntington, R.L. & Chadwick, B.A. Expectations for Traditional Family Roles: Palestinian Adolescents in the West Bank and Gaza. Sex Roles 41, 705–735 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018868010058
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018868010058