Ultra-orthodox Jewish Women Go to Work Secular Education and Vocational Training as Sources of Emancipation and Modernization

In the last three decades the ultra-orthodox community in Israel has experienced great changes in its internal social functioning. More specifically, these developments were linked to the education of ultra-orthodox women. Through an accurate review of the existing literature and a series of in-depth interviews with Israeli scholars, rabbis, educators and women of the ultraorthodox community in Jerusalem, it was found that the introduction of new vocational and academic tracks in women's education, is gradually changing the internal social structure of the ultraorthodox family and community. The main consequence is expressed in a modification of the traditional patriarchal framework and in a renegotiation of gender roles within the ultra-orthodox family and community. Summary