This article was downloaded by: [The University of Manchester Library]On: 24 November 2014, At: 11:18Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Jewish EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujje20

Women in Jewish SchoolsGerhard Lang , Maureen Carroll & Leslie LiebmanPublished online: 11 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: Gerhard Lang , Maureen Carroll & Leslie Liebman (1978) Women in Jewish Schools, Journal of JewishEducation, 46:3, 30-41, DOI: 10.1080/0021642780460308

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0021642780460308

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose ofthe Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be reliedupon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shallnot be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and otherliabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

GERHARD LANG, MAUREEN CARROLL and LESLIE LIEBMAN

Women in Jewish Schools

INTRODUCTION

IN OUR SOCIETY as a whole the role of women has been undergoing change. This change is not necessarily welcomed by all nor is it possible to please everyone. Of itself change is sometimes threatening.

However we perceive this changing role of women, it is a fact of life and it is gradually spreading throughout our culture across socio-economic lines, polit¬ ical lines, and religious lines.

This study of Women in Jewish Schools has been undertaken to help us view this phenomenon, particularly in regard to its impact on Jewish women involved in Jewish education.

In the AAJE news release (3/3/78) about this study, President Brody indi¬ cated that "while women comprise the vast majority of teachers in Jewish schools, less than 10% of them are en¬ gaged as principals, supervisors and edu¬ cation directors."

If we truly wish to attract more women into (these) leadership positions as Presi¬ dent Brody states, we need an under¬ standing of the situation as it presently exists in order, hopefully, to effect a change.

Answers were sought to the following questions:

This article is based on a presentation made at the 52nd annual conference of the Na¬ tional Council for Jewish Education, Gros-singer, N.Y., May 30, 1978. Dr. Lang is Profes¬ sor of Psychology and Education at Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, N.J. and Re¬ search Consultant to the American Associa¬ tion for Jewish Education. Ms. Carroll and Ms. Liebman are graduate students at Mont¬ clair State College.

1. What reasons do respondents offer explain the discrepancy between rep¬ resentation of women in teaching and administration/supervision?

2. How many respondents ever con¬ sidered holding a leadership posi¬ tion in Jewish education?

3. Of those respondents who did a) Which positions did they con¬

sider? b) For which positions did they ap-

ply? c) Which positions have they oc¬

cupied? 4. What reasons do respondents offer

for not considering holding a lead¬ ership position?

5. How many respondents have ever applied for leadership positions and were rejected? a) Which position did they apply

for? b) Why do they think that they were

rejected? c) Will they apply again for such a

position? If not, why not? 6. If respondents occupied a paid lead¬

ership position and left it, why did they?

7. What do respondents perceive as the current role of women in Jew¬ ish education? a) Should this role be changed? b) If so, how?

8. What differences, if any, exist in the responses to these questions with re¬ spect to these variables: a) Type of school b) Marital status

[30]

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14

WOMEN IN JEWISH SCHOOLS 31

c) Ideology d) Length of teaching experience e) Quality of Jewish educational

background.

The disparate proportion of women in leadership positions is not restricted to the field of Jewish education. The study by Weiner and Engle (1977) showed that of 2,200 employees, 54% of them wom¬ en, 2.5% of the positions of executive director or assistant director were held by women. Among male employees, 29% were executive directors and 23% were assistant executive directors.

The first issue of Women's Connection (a newsletter for women in Jewish com¬ munal service) reported that in the field of social work there has been a dramatic decline in the number of women in lead¬ ership positions in the last 20 years— from 60% women in leadership in 1957 to 20% in 1976 (March, 1978, Vol. I, No. 1).

Dr. Sara Feinstein (1975) reports that several factors inhibit the mobility of women into high-level posts:

a. Women's own reluctance to seek high level positions in Jewish edu¬ cation because they do not wish to complicate their home life. The heavy schedules, including week¬ ends, typical of most top adminis¬ trative positions, are presumed to interfere with responsibilities in the home.

b. Women's professional roles hi Jew¬ ish education are often confused with the role of volunteers. As prin¬ cipals and administrators of syna¬ gogue schools, they are often ex¬ pected to accept lower salaries as a form of service to be rendered to their synagogue.

c. The inherent bias in traditional Jud¬ aism against mastery of Torah, Mishna, and Talmud by women . . . although little of this knowledge is

generally drawn upon in the per¬ formance of top administrative duties, prevents many women from pursuing higher degrees in Jewish education and qualifying for top positions requiring background and experience.

d. The fact that many full-time edu¬ cational directorships in synagogues are often combined with the position of assistant rabbi, calling for ritual tasks hi the synagogue, disqualifies women from candidacy for these posts . . . (pp. 159-160).

All four of these statements in Dr. Fein-stein's study seem to be reflected in the responses by women to the questionnaire for the present study.

In addition, there were recurring re¬ sponses that indicate many women feel inadequately prepared or feel a lack in their specific background training for teaching Jewish education. Others felt that women in general were lacking in self-confidence for leadership roles. One woman wrote that women are alarmed by the thought that, in a leadership position, they might have to disagree professional¬ ly or "challenge the rabbi!!!" Many wom¬ en expressed their feeling, implicitly or explicitly, that women hamper themselves and are hampered by a traditional view of their role as women.

METHOD

Population

At present, characteristics of the pop¬ ulation of Jewish women teachers are un¬ known, i.e., we don't know how many there are hi different types of schools, their age distribution, ideological orien¬ tation, etc.

Sample

Respondents in nine communities were sampled: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Metro-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14

32 JEWISH EDUCATION

politan New Jersey, Miami, and Toronto. For the initial mailing, 1,002 question¬ naires were sent and 300 usable ques¬ tionnaires were returned, a 30% response. Of the 300 women, 250 are teachers, 50 are administrators, supervisors, guidance counselors and other non-teaching per¬ sonnel. The characteristics of the 250 teachers are as follows:

Type of School: 66 (26%) Saturday/ Sunday; 121 (49%), Afternoon; 63 (25%) Day

Age: 20-29 (22%), 30-39 (37%), 40-49 (20%), 50-60 (15%), over 60 (6%)

Marital Status: single (13%), married (76%), widowed (3%), divorced (7%), separated (1%)

Husband's Job: professional (66%), own business (9%), executive (12%), skilled worker (9%), student (4%)

Country of Birth: USA (76%), Israel (6%), other countries (European) (18%)

Ideological Identification: Orthodox (24%), Conservative (46%), Reform (24%,) Other (6%)

Length of Teaching Experience: 1-5 years (44%), 6-15 years (34%), more than 15 years (22%)

Years in Present Position: 1-5 years (68%), 6-15 years (22%), more than 15 years (10%)

Grades Now Teaching: Nursery/Kin¬ dergarten (4%), Grades 1-2 (17%), Grades 3-8 (55%), Grades 9-12 (10%), mixed grades (14%)

General Education: some college (19%), BA/BS degree (38%), some graduate work (16%), master's de¬ gree (24%), post-master's work (3%) (92% were educated in U.S. institu¬ tions)

Quality of Jewish Educational Back¬ ground: no Jewish education (14%),

poor (22%), good (47%), very good (17%) (87% were educated in U.S. institutions)

(66% regard Jewish education their primary occupation)

As a group, the 50 non-teachers are somewhat older than the teachers, have more experience, adhere to Reform rath¬ er than Orthodox or Conservative ideol¬ ogy, but have similar general and Jewish backgrounds.

Instrumentation

The survey instrument was the ques¬ tionnaire Women in Jewish Schools. Staff members of the American Association for Jewish Education and several teachers re¬ viewed drafts of the questionnaire. Their suggestions were embodied in the final version of the instrument.

Procedure

Directors of bureaus of Jewish educa¬ tion in nine communities were asked to submit lists of teachers. From these lists, selections were made to provide repre¬ sentation of different types of schools (i.e., Saturday/Sunday, afternoon, day), located in various parts of these commu¬ nities and of different ideologies. During February and March 1978, 1,002 ques¬ tionnaires were sent out and by the end of April, 300 usable forms were received.

RESULTS

We will first present the quantitative data, based on the "closed" items of the questionnaire. Then we will discuss the qualitative data, derived from the "open-ended" items. The data are recorded in 15 tables which are omitted in this pres¬ entation. Requests for these tables may be addressed to the senior author at the AAJE.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14

WOMEN IN JEWISH SCHOOLS 33

Reasons for the Discrepancy Between Representation of Women in Teaching and in Administration

The three most common reasons for this discrepancy checked by respondents are: "traditional concepts of the role of Jewish women," (61%) "lack of desire by women to become administrators/su¬ pervisors," (52%) and "lack of career information" (41%).

Least operative reasons are: "superior qualifications of men" (12%) and "lack of training" (14%). Generally, similar patterns of response are observed when we compare respondents by type of school, marital status, ideology, length of teach¬ ing experience, and quality of Jewish ed¬ ucational background.

To Hold or Not to Hold a Leadership Position in Jewish Education

Respondents were asked whether they ever considered holding a leadership po¬ sition. About V2 (54%) of the 250 teach¬ ers and all but two of the 50 non-teach¬ ers did.

A greater interest to become leaders is manifested by teachers who fall into one or more of these categories:

— they teach in an afternoon school, — they are Reform in ideology, — they possess "very good" Jewish

credentials, — they have taught between 6 and 15

years, and — they are single.

A lesser interest was expressed by teachers who fall into one or more of the following categories:

— they are Saturday/Sunday school teachers,

— they are Orthodox in ideology, — they possess no and "poor" Jewish

credentials, — they have more than 15 years of

teaching experience, — they are married.

Leadership Positions Which Were Considered, Applied for and Occupied

Slightly more than one half (54%) of the teachers considered, less than one third (31%) applied for, and only one fifth (20%) ever occupied a leadership posi¬ tion. For the non-teachers the correspond¬ ing percentages are: 96% (considered), 90% (applied for) and 88% (occupied).

Positions which respondents seem to focus on are consultant, school principal, and coordinator. They tend to exclude positions with more complex responsibili¬ ties, such as director of a department of a national organization and director of a Bureau of Jewish Education. It is not surprising that only about one half of the teachers ever considered moving up the career ladder. Aside from perceived (and actual) discrimination against women, two key stumbling blocks are the traditional concepts of the role of Jewish women and lack of career information.

Reasons for Not Holding a Leadership Position

Two most prominent reasons for not wishing to hold a leadership position are: "These positions entail too much time and responsibility and thus may interfere with my family life and obligations" (34%) and "I enjoy teaching and do not wish to leave the classroom" (29%). Less important reasons are the reluctance to relocate because of husband's job, per¬ ceived lack of qualifications, and per¬ ceived active discrimination by men.

Reasons Why Women Felt They Were Rejected When They Applied for a Leadership Position

Sixteen teachers and three non-teach¬ ers indicated that they were rejected in their quest to become principals or as¬ sistant principals. Half of them felt that their gender was the deterrent. Ten teach-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14

34 JEWISH EDUCATION

ers and one non-teacher will try again at some future time.

Reasons Why Women Left Leadership Positions

Of the 95 women who served as edu¬ cational leaders, 37 have left their po¬ sition at some time. Their reasons for doing so suggest that apparently discrim¬ ination was not a decisive factor.

Categories of Responses to Open-ended Questions

The majority either did not react to these open-ended questions or gave re¬ plies which were not really relevant. Those who did respond emphasize the need for change, i.e., women's role should be expanded and women should be en¬ couraged and better trained. A minority felt that leadership positions should be left to men. Isolated comments allude to the "poor" status of Jewish education.

Qualitative Data (answer to: In your opinion, what is the current role of wom¬ en in Jewish education? Should it be changed? If so, how? Comments)

Many respondents answered these ques¬ tions from a theoretical rather than a personal point of view. Therefore, some of the thoughts expressed here may not tally with the personal responses specifi¬ cally elicited earlier. For example, many women did not wish to apply for leader¬ ship positions themselves for varied rea¬ sons (age, time commitments, not pres¬ ently qualified, etc.) but felt that women, in general, were prevented from holding these positions.

The responses to the open-ended ques¬ tions also showed other recurring themes. Key among them was the idea that, due in part to low salaries, the field of Jewish education was not considered to be a pro¬ fession in the normal sense of that word. "I work for pleasure. . . . If I needed to help support my family I would have chosen a different profession. Teachers

and 'higher position' educators are very much underpaid."

"The role of women will not change until the role of Jewish education ex¬ pands—most see it now as an extra teach¬ ing position or part-time way of making a Jewish commitment. Although I do not anticipate moving 'up' in Jewish educa¬ tion—I teach because it is my way of making a contribution to Jewish survival and because I love teaching and kids— I would like to see other women encour¬ aged to use their talents in such an im¬ portant way."

"The majority of teachers in Jewish schools do not see themselves as profes¬ sionals; they therefore do not explore other career opportunities in Jewish ed¬ ucation. The first step is to upgrade and professionalize the job (of Hebrew teach¬ ing)."

"The women teachers I see are inter¬ ested in teaching as a part-time supple¬ mentary salary within their family. They are professionally trained but their jobs are of secondary importance, and so they continue to keep them as minimal ca¬ reers."

Another recurring theme expressed by many women was that women are indi¬ rectly discouraged from trying for lead¬ ership positions by (1) not being given any opportunity to train for advancement through their present positions, and (2) by not being informed of the possibilities for professional advancement when they do exist.

"Women in Jewish education . . . have little information on availability of jobs, and with very little opportunity to devel¬ op additional skills. More women should be encouraged to attend leadership courses or seminars to enable them to evaluate other positions and also to in¬ troduce them to what is available. In ad¬ dition, there is a lack of desire from con¬ gregation leaders to hire women into lead¬ ership positions. The leaders should visit the classrooms more often to introduce

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14

WOMEN IN JEWISH SCHOOLS 35

them to the women teachers and to eval¬ uate prospective candidates."

There were also strongly contrasting themes regarding attitudes toward wom¬ en's primary role. These ranged from "the family unit is more important than a job if money is not the issue" which presumes that a leadership position is too rigorous in its demands and would interfere with a woman's responsibilities to her family. The contrasting attitude was expressed as follows: "The innovative and expert skills of well-educated and efficient women are being misused by male superiors who think of them and treat them as 'girls.' It is a delight to know this study has been undertaken. The true test of its worth will be the changes it helps to bring about."

There was also a very interesting com¬ ment from a woman who had been a principal for five years and who left to go back to the classroom because "I didn't need the income enough to endure the pressures." This woman had the fol¬ lowing to say based on her own experi¬ ence: "I am very impressed with the young women I see going into Jewish ed¬ ucation. The principal that replaced me was a young woman who was exceedingly knowledgeable about Judaism as well as about administration responsibilities. So too, this year, another young woman is principal in my school. I am pleasantly surprised to see that there are several places in L.A. (H.U.C., U.J.) where wom¬ en can get the training. I have person¬ ally never met any prejudice because I am a woman. What I would wish for is that Jewish education could be subsi¬ dized (so) that individual congregations were not solely responsible for the high cost. The need for adequate salaries for administrators, as well as teachers in Jew¬ ish education is a serious one and I don't think congregations can adequately meet these needs."

Another woman presently in a leader¬ ship position in her school wrote: "I am one of the 5%. My position is equal to

that of principal... While there is a lit¬ tle sex bias in my school, there is a great deal in the school board city-wide. They are all male and Orthodox (double-wham-my!) and at the beginning it blew their minds that a woman was a top executive."

Yet another woman director stated concisely the "women lack clout."

Many women gave thoughtful and in¬ sightful comments regarding the role of women in Jewish education.

"Most women in Jewish education are classroom teachers. Many of them do not have a good background for the job. Some are unpaid volunteers, others are badly underpaid. For the sake of Jewish survival an attempt should be made to professionalize Jewish education, to set up requirements and standards for teach¬ ers and in return to give status and a living wage. Educational opportunities should be provided for both men and women, as well as the possibility of ad¬ vancing professionally. This would also have the additional advantage of moti¬ vating males to become teachers. Heaven knows how badly we need male role mod¬ els.

"Basically I believe a drastic change of attitude is required—on the part of the Jewish community towards Jewish education and Jewish educators, and on the part of the Jewish establishment to¬ wards women. The few women I have known who have 'made it' have general¬ ly been paid less than their male coun¬ terparts, and have had to work harder and produce more in order to justify their position."

DISCUSSION

The questionnaire seemed to evoke two parallel sets of responses, one illustrative of the women's personal feelings about themselves, and the other illustrative of an objective overview of the status of women in general and of Jewish educa¬ tion itself. Women (34%) objectively feel that discrimination based on gender oc-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14

36 JEWISH EDUCATION

curs, but an even larger percentage of them (61%) feel that traditional concepts of the role of Jewish women account for the discrepancy between women in teach¬ ing and in administration positions.

The qualitative data stressed frequent¬ ly that, in Jewish education, it is auto¬ matically a man's world hi administra¬ tion, because generally in order to be¬ come an administrator, you must have a strong Talmudic background and this has been a traditional male-only bastion. Also, it is usually the rabbi who makes these decisions and many women stressed the existence of male favoritism.

Many women indicated a lack of de¬ sire to become administrators/supervisors. The key question here remains one based on women's traditional learned lack of assertiveness: Is this lack of desire based on a fear of assertion and part of a larger societal picture or is it one based on a genuine desire to remain in their present positions? The data alone are insufficient to answer this question. What is needed is a follow-up with a design which per¬ mits greater in-depth analysis of how women perceive themselves, their roles, their options.

Again, when the women responded on a personal level, the data paralleled their objective responses. Most wished to re¬ main in the classroom or felt that admin¬ istrative positions would detract from their family life and obligations. In short, Jew¬ ish women feel that gender currently op¬ erates as a determinant of what they should and can do, and their first priority remains a traditional one. The family's needs come first. Women are being con¬ strained in the multiplicity of options both by choice and by culture set, i.e., they hold themselves back and the tra¬ ditional definition of their roles also holds them back. If we were to look across na¬ tional non-secular lines, most working women are possessed by twinges of guilt and need reassurance along the lines of

"Am I still a good mother?" so this as¬ pect of becoming involved on an admin¬ istrative, ergo full-time and more demand¬ ing level echoes a national maternal re¬ frain. A questionnaire study of this sort holds great promise, but is severely lim¬ ited in what it can uncover. More open-ended questions would seem to be in or¬ der, perhaps those which could evoke how Jewish women in education feel about themselves. If personal interviews were possible as a follow-up with a cer¬ tain percentage of those involved, the follow-up data could be most revealing.

Generally, those women who were more well-educated felt that Jewish education itself needed upgrading and so did the teaching selection process. Some indicated that they were opting for careers outside of Jewish education which offered greater status and remuneration. So in actuality, the picture of the major portion of wom¬ en in Jewish education remains one of women who have not opted out, but who are not as well educated or aspiring as those who have. Some younger, better-educated women with strong Jewish stud¬ ies backgrounds have indicated a desire to obtain leadership positions within Jew¬ ish education, but have also indicated the presence of discrimination against wom¬ en; these are the newer breed of Jewish women who would like to enter Jewish education and they do not constitute a majority. Which leads us to a major ques¬ tion: If most women within the system perceive discrimination but do not rock the boat, should the territorial waters be changed? Hopefully, as Jewish educators, we recognize the disservice we do to a segment of our own population when we delimit their options. If those options be¬ come more of a reality to those women, even if they do not choose to avail them¬ selves of them at the current time, it can only increase their feelings of self-worth. Even more important, we can change the

(Continued on page 41)

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14

NATIONAL BOARD OF LICENSE 41

Hebrew Language (advanced) 6 Hebrew Literature (taught in Hebrew) 15 Bible (6 credits in Torah) History (from Biblical to Modern

Times) Jewish Thought Liturgy Laws, Ceremonies and Customs Rabbinics Education Group Work Student Teaching

Total

24

18 6 3 6 9

12 3

—

102

Two new licensing categories have also been introduced by the NBL to help meet growing demands for teachers in the areas of Early Childhood Education and Spe¬ cial Education. In addition to state cer¬ tification in Early Childhood Education or Special Education, the following course work in Judaica is required for NBL li-C e n s i n g : College Level Subject Credits Hebrew Language 6 Bible 9 Customs & Ceremonies 6 Liturgy 9 Jewish Social Studies 15 Jewish Literature 9 Jewish Art and Music 12

Total 66

Setting and maintaining educational standards in a voluntary milieu greatly depends on the resolve of central agen¬ cies and local (professional and lay) school authorities to expect and demand proper standards. Certification of all pro¬ fessional personnel is a major step in rais¬ ing and maintaining standards. Educa¬ tional institutions must require all teach¬ ing and supervisory personnel prior to (or even subsequent to engagement) to turn to duly authorized boards of license for certification. Personnel who do not meet requirements must be expected to fulfill them by taking appropriate course work at institutions of higher learning during the school year or during summer months. In addition, in-service courses sponsored by local communities could help person¬ nel meet NBL examination requirements —a means for certification.

The National Board of License, through its Executive Secretary, stands ready to aid individuals or communities in plan¬ ning special programs for personnel. The revised licensure brochure "Requirements and Procedures" published by the NBL is available by writing to the National Board of License, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011.

WOMEN IN JEWISH SCHOOLS (Continued from page 36)

perceptions of those children whom we ed¬ ucate so that anyone can become what he or she wants. As Jews, we must rea¬

lize that any discrimination within our own culture and social structure can only sap our strength as a people.

REFERENCES

Feinstein, Sara. Opening opportunities for women in Jewish communal service. Jour¬ nal of Jewish Communal Service, 1975, 52, 1953-162. (No. 2, Winter).

Weiner, Toby and Engel, Sophie B. The Sta¬

tus of Women in Jewish Communal Service. A report presented at the 79th annual meet¬ ing of the National Conference of Jewish Communal Service, Washington, D.C., June 5, 1977.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

The

Uni

vers

ity o

f M

anch

este

r L

ibra

ry]

at 1

1:18

24

Nov

embe

r 20

14