Ultra-Orthodox women in the job market: What aid them to become healthy and satisfied?

Abstract

Introduction Culture and ethnicity are crucial to our identity and responsible for our health, values and thereby to our satisfaction from work. Objectives To this end, this study focused on the minority groups of ultra-orthodox women in their work sphere and examined differences between women who work within the enclave, women who work both with ultra-Orthodox and other sectors of the Israel society and women who work mainly outside the ultra-Orthodox enclave on the different study variables. Moreover, a model which include main resources [family, community, diversity climate perceptions (in the job environment) and inclusive leadership] as potential explanatory factors of employees’ satisfaction from work and mental health. Methods Data were gathered from 304 ultra-Orthodox women who belong to various streams in this society, who were recruited by the Midgam research panel. The participants filled out self-reported questionnaires among which family quality of life, community sense of coherence, diversity climate, inclusive leadership, job satisfaction and mental health. The participants’ age ranged between 19-64 years (M=30.86 SD=8.71). Results The explanation of the full model for jobs satisfaction was: 46% of the variance among women within the enclave, 60% among women who work in mixed environment, and 53% among women who work outside the enclave. As for mental health: 22% of the variance among women within the enclave, 17% among women in mixed environment, and 41% among women outside the enclave. Conclusions The results are analyzed through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory and show that in traditional societies such as the ultra-Orthodox one, the most important factors for job satisfaction and mental health are family and communal resources. Disclosure of Interest None Declared