The story of migrants and refugees is a broad topic that consists of innumerable separate, personal stories. Professor Athalya Brenner briefly highlights several issues relating to female migrant workers through an article drawing surprisingly relevant parallels with the story of Ruth the Moabite from the Old Testament \u2013 demonstrating that the problem of acceptance and integration of (female) migrant workers was a problem in Israel (and elsewhere) both in biblical and modern times.
\nThe story of Ruth is a tale of a woman who married an Israelite resident in Moab. When her husband died, she decided to travel with her mother-in-law \u2013 Naomi \u2013 who was returning to Israel. As a non-Jew, Ruth was at the bottom of society and only able to get food for herself and the elderly Naomi by gleaning from the fields during harvest time. The man whose fields she gleaned from eventually married her, and she became part of the family that fathers King David, and also Jesus, several generations later. However, Brenner criticises the romantic portrayal of this story where Ruth is the \u201cheroine\u201d.
\nThe relevance of using Ruth as an example is stressed in some short points by Brenner:
\n–\tRuth might have had no choice in how events unfolded after her initial decision to move to a foreign land \u2013 most of her later actions are motivated by her mother-in-law Naomi.
\n–\tShe is always referred to as \u2018Moabite\u2019, clearly labelling her as a foreigner.
\n–\tShe is only able to get menial work in the fields due to the low social status of non-Israelites.
\n–\tShe disappears from her own story towards the end after the birth of her son Obed who carries on the family line \u2013 she is not \u201cintegrated\u201d, merely \u201cassimilated\u201d.
\n–\tJewish tradition required her to convert, which it is implied she does, yet Brenner finishes this section with the following question: \u201ca convert remains a convert, almost never an \u2018in\u2019 person \u2013 does this ring a bell?\u201d [167-168].
\nBrenner estimated that around two thirds of migrant workers in Israel in 2005 were women. Just like in the story of Ruth, they are often only able to get menial jobs. It is more difficult, or even impossible, to get Israeli citizenship unless you are a Jew although policies may have changed. Moreover, wages often do not meet minimum-wage, although legally required to.
\nWhen studying history it is easy to forget that the people we study were, and are, real. History should not be romanticised. Migration is a key field that is increasingly studied through a transnational lens. Maybe future transnational history can increasingly appeal to a modern day audience that some problems still have not been solved even after thousands of years. It is time that they were.<\/p>\n
Athalya Brenner, \u2018From Ruth to the \u201cGlobal Woman\u201d: Social and Legal Aspects\u2019, Interpretation, April 2010, pp. 162-168.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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