Insider-Outsider Research, Qualitative Discovery, and the Enhancement of Social Justice

We have for over twenty years researched the Israeli Druze community in an insider- outsider research partnership, coming to deep understanding of the family and communal factors that limit the access of Druze and Muslim women to higher education and academic and professional advancement. These research insights have enabled us, in the academic institution where we work, to enact practices that increase academic and professional access for these women. While we did not plan this as a research focus or goal, we have lately come, in inductive fashion, to the realization that this is social justice work. According to John Rawls, social justice means fair distribution of resources, but this conception does not go far enough. Extending Rawls, Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum suggest that even when resources are distributed according to fair rules of law, personal, social and communal factors can inhibit individuals and groups from being fully capable of exploiting resources. This is true especially of women in societies where their freedom of choice is restricted. In this article we describe specific practices we have instituted that increase access and success for these women in our college. And we celebrate the unexpected discoveries that qualitative research can afford.