Gender and Intergroup Contact: the Case of Arab Woman

Coexistence of various ethnic groups within the American and British societies made newspaper headlines following the events of 9/11 in the United States and of July 7 in Great Britain. This article based on survey research and focus group interviews aims to address intergroup contact. In a heterogeneous society, two major tendencies with regard to relation of the Arab community with the mainstream society surface. On the one hand, we notice a tendency to forge a new identity that is deep-rooted in the Arab culture, but with a declared belonging to the host society. On the other hand, there is a tendency of restraint and isolation. This choice of restraint and isolation is sometimes allotted to the ambivalent feelings generated by cultural disparity and stubborn attachment to certain values and traditions. In this context, our study targets the exploration of relationship of Arab women with the mainstream society with the stress laying on the reasons governing ups and downs of their integration within a new cultural environmen