Why are there so few Palestinian women in principalship positions?

This chapter concerns Palestinian women holding leading positions in the Arab educational system in Israel. It provides information about the representation of women in teaching and management positions in the system as a whole, and by level of school (primary, intermediate and secondary). It also looks at the feminisation process of the educational system over time and examines the extent to which the increase in women’s numbers in schools has resulted in more women becoming principals. From the data presented here and as suggested by previous studies, Palestinian women are extremely under-represented as principals. In this chapter we argue that their current position cannot be understood using the human capital or the patriarchal approaches, and consequently, there is a need to examine the overall socio-economic and political position of the Palestinian minority in Israel and how the socio-economic and political contexts are responsible for pushing women to the end of the queue when it comes to consideration for these positions.