‘He thought I would be like my mother’: The silencing of Mizrachi women in Israeli inter- and intra-marriages

Abstract

A theoretical framework focused on silencing in marriage is used in this article to examine power in inter-marriage. A question was raised regarding processes of marital silencing that occur when gender hierarchy is combined with an ethnic hierarchy. Jewish immigrants to Israel from Arab countries, or those born to such immigrants (“Mizrachi”), consistently occupy a stratum lower than that occupied by Jewish immigrants from Europe, or those born to such immigrants (“Ashkenazi”). Orientalist justifications, silence anti-Mizrachi oppression in the public discourse in Israel. This study attempted to trace the footprints of silencing within marital interactions on a micro level. Eleven Mizrachi women married to Mizrachi men and eleven Mizrachi women married to Ashkenazi men were interviewed. Mizrachi women married to Ashkenazi men reported the silencing of ethnicity in their marriages which supported the silencing of housework.