In Western countries, it is routine for the State to promote services for preschool children which have a double purpose, as a response to both an educational/social needs and as an answer to economic needs. Foremostly, the framework is intended to educate and nurture the knowledge, skills and abilities of the toddlers and thus prepare them for the next stages in their lives, and in particular for their school education. These frameworks are of crucial importance for the development of children and toddlers. Children who are in a poor framework, or worse, in no framework at all, will have difficulties acquiring basic tools and skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. Secondly, the early childhood settings also answer an economic need. The fact that the children are in a preschool framework allows the parents to participate in the workforce and help provide for their families, which, in turn, enables them to make a financial contribution to the economy. In particular, these frameworks allow women, on whom the task of raising children usually falls, to go out and consistently integrate into the labor market. In the absence of geographic and/or economic accessibility to frameworks for the care and education of preschool children, mothers are the ones who are forced to give up their participation in the labor market. For working families whose income level is low, subsidized preschool education frameworks are essential, since they allow both spouses to go to work, and ensure a basic income for the family.

In Israel, public services for preschool children are generally not beneficiaries of budgetary investment. According to OECD data, the national expenditure for a child between the ages of birth and three years in Israel is lower than the average in developed countries. Only about one third of preschool children visit frameworks that are supervised and subsidized by the State, which means that most of the cost of preschool education is financed by the parents. One of the consequences of the lack of accessible and affordable public preschool frameworks is diminished participation of women from disadvantaged socio-economic
strata in the labor market.

The Israeli government set a goal for itself of increasing the employment rates of Arab women up to 41% in 2020. However, some of the actions intended to achieve this goal are not adequate. As far as Bedouin Arab women from the Negev are concerned, the country is even further from that goal. As of 2016, only about 32% of Bedouin women in the Negev were employed. The employment rates of Bedouin Arab women in general are significantly lower than those of Jewish women in the southern region.

In this document, daycare services in various Bedouin communities in the Negev were examined. The document points to considerable delay and discrimination in the development of the services – that is, the establishment and operation of the centers. It focuses on the impediments to occupying the centers that were built, and the consequences for the employment of Bedouin Arab women in the Negev and the reduction of inequality as a result of delays in the development of the services.

The document’s conclusions indicate that subsidized and supervised preschool settings may serve as a significant tool for reducing social and economic disparities in Israel, and therefore that it is essential to ensure that day care centers are set up in all Bedouin communities in the Negev. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the need for subsidizing the payments for day care services at rates that are within the economic means of the Bedouin community in the Negev, so that they may serve as an answer to the ongoing discrimination that those communities suffer from.