Continuity and Struggle: Two Generations of Jewish Moroccan Men in a Moshav in Israel

This article inquires into the differences between two generations of Jewish Moroccan men living in a Moshav (agricultral cooperative) in Israel. It will ask questions such as: why did younger men show more aggression in public social behaviour, in their relation with their wives, and also within the interview situation with the female anthropologist and her male assistant than their fathers? Why do they behave in a way that would be typically called ‘Macho’ in the Middle Eastern literature? More so, why do they hold more ‘traditional’ values concerning women’s place in society than their own fathers?

I will present the men’s cultural construction of their masculinity, while highlighting the intergenerational changes. This will be done in a context of young women’s rejection, non-acceptance of certain ideas about femininity held by men. My paper will also present both masculine and feminine cultural identities in the context of Israeli society where women do compare their fate with the fate of other ethnic groups (Ashkenazi), and their husbands find them selves in the midst of changing working opportunities for women but not for themselves. The men are mostly unskilled laborers.

My analysis will be both cultural, dealing with gender ideology, and social, grounded in the daily bargaining for power and the broader Israeli social context of job opportunities for both genders.