Veiling and Management: Muslim Women Managers in Israel

An exciting and original piece of research by authors Khalid Arar & Tamar Shapira.

Khalid Arar

It’s really important that international and cross-cultural management scholars are able to step into other’s shoes, in order to learn from different cultural contexts. Cultural identity is not a straightforward thing for Muslim women in Israel, as the authors tell us: “The complex collective identity of the Palestinian Arab community in Israel comprises several elements: citizenship (Israeli), nationality (Palestinian), ethnicity (mostly Arab) and religion (Islamic or Christian or Druze)”.

Look out for this new article coming soon in International Journal of Cross Cultural Management.

In the authors’ words:

"This paper explores the motivations of Arab Muslim women managers in Israel who adopt the veil just before or soon after their nomination to management positions. We used narrative research in order to understand this growing phenomenon and its meaning for the women managers in different life spheres. While the research findings stress the different motivations for adopting or rejecting veiling, all the women managers perceived veiling as a phenomenon that has direct consequences for their status in Arab Muslim society and for their ability to function effectively as managers and to introduce far-reaching changes with the support of their community and the staff. The paper contributes to our understanding of Muslim women’s visibility in private venues and in the public sphere and reinforces the need for more in-depth comparative cultural studies of veiling perceptions."

Tamar Shapira

For further information on their research and this article please contact Tamar Shapira