The past five years have seen an increase in dozens of percent in the number of Arab women attending universities and colleges in Israel. Currently, they outnumber male Arab graduates. Reality in Israel, however, pours cold water over this impressive figure, compiled by the Office of the Prime Minister. Despite the growth in the number of students, only 27% of Arab women are employed, compared with 74% of Jewish women. 

There are a variety of reasons for this, with cultural-religious factors last on the list in terms of importance. Higher on the list are a series of objective sectorial difficulties, such as a lack of public transportation, access to urban employment areas and lack of proper training. On Oct. 29, the prime minister’s office will hold its fifth annual convention for the Arab sector. The employment challenge will be one of the main agenda items among the discussions, which will be attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and nearly all government ministers.

Aiman Saif, who serves in the prime minister’s office as director of the Authority for the Economic Advancement of Minorities (Arabs, Druze and Circassians), is putting the final touches on a planning dossier that includes updated surveys ahead of the conference. He has held this job for five years, since the authority was created in the final days of the Ehud Olmert government. Saif is 45 years old, lives with his wife and three children in the town of Arara in the Wadi Ara area and has a graduate degree in business administration. He got a job in the prime minister’s office in 1994, in the days of the Yitzhak Rabin government, which for the first time in Israeli history decided to allocate government positions, 80 of them at that time, to Arabs. Today, some 4,600 Arabs are employed in government ministries.

Al-Monitor: What, in your opinion, is the main employment challenge facing Israeli Arabs?