Bedouin women in Israel set up small businesses

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Women in Israel's Bedouin community are fighting cultural traditions in order to make a better life for themselves and their families. With the help of a local loans, they're setting up small businesses.

Rahat is one of Israel's poorest towns. And for Bedouin women, their conservative culture traps them in traditional roles. They are mostly forbidden to work and are forced to care for children while the men struggle to find work.

But an organization staffed by local women is looking to change that by providing Bedouin women small loans through one of the country's only micro-finance programs.

Umm Abed, SAWA Loan Beneficiary, said, "I took the first loan, I bought a few sheep, then I took the second one, I bought more sheep, and the situation now is good, thanks to God."

Though, Israel is a developed country, half of all Bedouin live below the poverty line.