Life domain preferences among women and men in Israel: The effects of socio‐economic variables

• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Author: Moshe SHARABI
• Date: 01 December 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-913X.2014.00020.x

International Labour Review, Vol. 154 (2015), No. 4

Copyright © The author 2015

Journal compilation © International Labour Organization 2015

* Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Yezreel Valley Academic College, and

Center for the Study of Organizations and Human Resource Management, University of Haifa,

email: moshes@yvc.ac.il.

Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and

publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.

Life domain preferences among women

and men in Israel: The effects

of socio-economic variables

Moshe SHARABI*

Abstract. Based on the ndings of the 2006 “Meaning of Work” survey, this art-

icle examines the relative “life domain centrality” of work, family, leisure, com-

munity and religion across a representative sample of the Israeli labour force

comprising 463 men and 44 6 women. While conrming that family centrality re-

mained stronger among women than men, male and female respondents ranked

work equally high, marking a departure from women’s traditionally weaker pref-

erence for this life domain. Regression analysis identies socio-economic factors

that partially explain the attitudinal differences between men and women. Overall,

the results suggest a growing risk of work–family conict among Israeli women.

One of the most meaningful global economic and social changes in recent

decades has been the increase in women’s labour force participation

(Lips and Lawson, 2009). The historically gendered division of labour, whereby

men were breadwinners and women were homemakers, changed dramatically

over the course of the twentieth century (Laville, 199 9; Lachance-Grzela and

Bouchard, 2010). In recent decades, women have been entering the global

workforce at a rapid rate (Carli, 2010; Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010).

In the United States, women’s labour force participation rose to about 59 per

cent in 2010 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). In China, women account

for 46 per cent of the workforce (Carli, 2010). And, more generally, in over

60 per cent of the countries surveyed by the United Nations Statistics Division

in the late-2000 s, the majority of women were economically active (Lips and

Lawson, 2009). This trend has been accompanied by an increase in women’s

educational attainment, occupational status, income and expectations (Laville,

1999; Carli, 2010; Lips and Lawson, 200 9). This, in turn, raises the chances of

International Labour Review520

work–family conict for both women and men (Cousins and Tang, 2004;

Hoobler, Wayne and Lemmon, 2009; Westman and Etzion, 20 05). Indeed, these

changes affect women’s expectations regarding the centrality of work, family,

leisure and other life domains.

Weber’s (1930) seminal work, The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capit-

alism, focused on the relationship between the Protestant work ethic, which

conceives work to be of supreme value both in an individual’s life and to so-

ciety, and the degree of prosperity of societies that upheld that ethic. Over the

course of time, the values of both individuals and societies change, entailing

changes in people’s work, family and leisure values that can affect the eco-

nomic success of organizations and societies (Sharabi and Harpaz, 2007 and

2010). Among both men and women, changes in gender role socialization and

expectations regarding work and family life are related to social, economic

and political factors which can thus help explain the changes in work values

among societal subgroups as well as whole societies (Abramson and Inglehart,

1995; Hesse-Biber and Carter, 2004; Sharabi and Harpaz, 20 07 and 20 09a).

Within this broad analytical framework, this article explores the central-

ity of major life domains among men and women in Israel and explains gender

differences by using regression analysis to evaluate the inuence of socio-eco-

nomic variables on those life domains. The remainder of the article is organized

into ve main sections. The rst briey reviews the developments and factors

that have shaped societal change in Israel in recent decades. The second sec-

tion considers the ndings of previous research on life domain centrality, the

nexus of work, family and gender, and other determinants of work and family

centrality in developed countries. This literature review leads to the formula-

tion of several research hypotheses. The third section presents the data and

methodology, while the fourth reports the ndings of this research. The fth

section discusses the ndings and concludes.

The Israeli context

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the economy has grown

at a rapid rate. Until the worldwide recession of the mid-1970 s, the economy

grew about 10 per cent per year and since then, average economic growth has

been higher than in most developed countries (Sharabi and Harpaz, 2010;

Tzafrir, Meshoulam and Baruch, 20 07). Since the 1970s, Israel has shifted from

a centralized socialistic economy, with virtually guaranteed employment for all,

to a capitalist market economy (Harpaz, 2008; Sharabi, 2008). Since the begin-

ning of the 1990s, globalization has beneted Israel’s economy and society by

promoting the country’s trade, its high-technology industry, increased foreign

investment, and the rapid development of an information society. However, it

has also had negative effects, especially in terms of rising unemployment, de-

clining trade unions, and worsening working conditions (Harpaz, 200 8).

Ben-David (2003) notes that the last four decades of the twentieth century

witnessed a decrease in male labour force participation rates while the propor-