11:00- 13:00 Minority women and girls and the right to education Hannan Elsaneh Bedouin Women In the Naqab: Interaction of Poverty, Marginalization and Gender discriminations Background According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, the Arab population of Israel in 2010 is estimated at almost 1,6 Million, representing 20.4% of the population1 The majority of these identify themselves as Arab Palestinian by nationality and Israeli by citizenship.2 From this number, approximately 180,000 are Bedouins from the Naqab desert. Among this population, 80,000 live in what is called, Unrecognized Villages, although these villages exist before the state establishment they are considered illegal settlements by the government. Residents of those villages endure an absence of basic infrastructure services, such as running water, electricity and sewage systems. Most villages lack schools, health clinics and access roads. The Naqab Bedouin has the highest rate of unemployment in the country, and the worst school retention and matriculation record. They struggle to cling to their traditional way of life, one that entails living in extended family and tribal structures and the herding of livestock for their sustenance, while the government seeks to herd them into pre-planned and inadequate urban townships that destroy the economical and social fabric of their community. The government has employed hostile tactics to bring about their transfer to these townships, including demolishing hundreds of homes every year they claim were built illegally. Bedouin women are perhaps the most vulnerable to this situation as they are further constrained by the harsh patriarchal tradition of their community. This has implications in every aspect of women’s lives. For example, the illiteracy rate in Unrecognized Villages for women above the age of 30 years, reaches 90% and the large majority is unable, unfit or forbidden or don't have the opportunity to work.. Thus, without education or employment, Bedouin women are denied any possibility for improving their own lives or exerting a positive impact on the lives of their families and their communities. The History of Bedouin Education in the Naqab In the Naqab desert, a school system existed already in the 1920's, far earlier than the State establishment in 1948. While an early system, it was for only boys from the elite, Sheiks sons mainly. The Ottoman Empire, 1 2 1 Latest population figures of Israel, 2010 Identity crises Arab Citizens