From a humble identity to an identity of respect: lifetime abuse among Arab Israeli older women.

ABSTRACT

This study addresses the retrospective experiences of older Arab Israeli women after a lifetime of living in the shadow of intimate partner violence. Qualitative research was conducted, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews of 15 Arab Israeli older women. Underlying this study is a feminist perspective and a life course perspective. Two main themes emerged (1) socially endorsed violence against Arab Israeli women. This took several forms men's dominant position and women's dependence, sources of violence used against women before and after marriage, and the social education of women to accept their fate. (2) The construction of a multifaceted survival identity throughout Arab Israeli women's life and old age. This identity has a variety of dimensions, including a submissive victim identity, a rehabilitative identity of respect in old age, and a form of split identity that combines both the rehabilitative social identity and the marginal identity still experienced within the home.