The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Authority for Economic Development of the Minorities Sector launched a campaign to raise Arab citizens’ awareness about their labor rights and resources. The four-week campaign, the first of its kind, includes Arabic-language billboards and ads in Arab towns, on popular websites, and over the radio in March and April 2017.
EEOC data shows that Arab employees—women especially—are the least likely to use commission services to address or even report incidents of discrimination. In large part, this is attributed to the fact that, though more Arab citizens are attending higher education and pursuing advanced careers in Israel, the vast majority still work in low-skilled, low-wage labor with little job security and are either uninformed about or reluctant to exercise their legal rights. Yet numerous studies by the EEOC confirm that discrimination on a variety of bases is a reality in the Israeli job market.
The ad campaign is titled “Mish Foshta!” (literally, “Not Chaos!”), reinforcing that Arab citizens are part of a legal system with rights and recourse. The ads depict a variety of Arab employees along with a question: “Have you been discriminated against because you spoke Arabic?” or “Have you been fired because you are wearing a Hijab?” For each, the answer is “Mish Foshta!” and along with information about the services and how to contact the EEOC.
The campaign was launched on March 21, 2017 in a conference in Nazareth where both the Director General of the Authority and EEOC commission Mariam Kabha presented.