The status of women in Israel began to take shape in
context of the ideology of the Zionist movement and the First Aliyah to Israel
in 1882. These gave rise to two fascinating and contradictory trends: on one
hand, research indicates that Zionism, as the national liberation movement of
the Jewish people, was essentially a masculine liberation movement. On the
other hand, the harsh conditions of the pioneers and the need to settle the
land led to prima facie equality with regard to labor and security, and
to the establishment of women’s organizations during the earliest stages of the
Yishuv. One of the main streams in Zionism championed the
return to national independence, to Jewish defense forces, to conquest through
labor, conquest of the soil, physical agricultural work, and the native Israeli
(Sabra) role model. . These all required attributes of physical strength,
physical labor, the military, heroism in war, independence, and control. Yet, the
image of the state of the Jews in exile was of feminine attributes, interpreted
as weakness: spiritual power, the capacity to give, non-physical labor, culture
and literature, dependence (on the gentile nations), and domestication (as well
as the obligation to be confined in ghettoes). A fascinating illustration of
these attributes can be seen in Michael Glozman’s recent study.[1]
He analyzes Herzl’s Altneuland as a gender and sexual utopia that sees
the objective of Zionism as transforming the “emaciated Jewish youth”
into a “steel-cast man”; he discusses the works of Bialik, who
emphasizes that the
Kishinev
pogrom represents “powerlessness – the most shameful illness of all,”
and he brings Yosef Haim Brenner’s impressions of “this nation’s feminine
virtues.” The greatest authors and poets of early Zionism – Herzl, Bialik,
and Brenner – contributed to the shaping of the Jewish and Zionist national
image as explicitly masculine images, muscle-bound and strong. This ideology
heightened the estrangement between the sexes. It is likely that in the
historical context of early Zionism there was no escaping this paradigm,
whether intrinsically or for the purpose of inspiring Jews to undertake the
difficult, pioneering step of immigrating to Israel. Nevertheless, the feminist
literature has revealed the price that women paid for this ideology.[2]
On the other hand, the reality of the pioneer era
demanded that women be included in the hard work of paving roads, agriculture and
construction as well as their integration in defense organizations such as “Hashomer”
and “Hahagana.” It thus seems that there was actually equality between the
sexes during the Yishuv period. However, recent studies reveal that this was
not the case: First, the women were required to integrate into the work and
defense forces based on the “assimilation” model and not the “adaptation” model;
that is, the women were expected to work and act like men instead of adapting
society to integrating work and family. Second, already in the pioneer and
Yishuv era, women groups fought against their under-representation within the
ranks of the leadership, argued that households should be registered under the
names of both spouses and not just the husband, and later complained that their
part in the historical narrative was ignored. Three notable women's groups grew
in this era: Na’amat, as part of the Histadrut General Labor Federation; the Israeli branch of WIZO, the Women’s International
Zionist Organization; and Emunah, the organization for religious women. These
women’s organizations also established and have continued to shoulder the
monumental project of launching and running nursery schools, a project that
forms an important basis for the integration of work and motherhood.
The Status of Women Upon the Establishment of the State
The Declaration of Independence from
May 14, 1948
unequivocally calls for
all citizens to be treated equally and prohibits discrimination on the basis of
religion, race, or sex. Since the establishment of the state, however, this
egalitarian outlook has not been fully realized. At the outset, compromises
were made with regard to the status of women, in large measure to appease the
Orthodox politicians whose support was needed to form a coalition government.
Thus, the Women’s Equal Rights Law of 1951 does not refer to equality of the
sexes. More significantly, the Rabbinical Courts’ Jurisdiction (Marriage and
Divorce) Law of 1953 placed the authority for marriage and divorce in Israel in
the hands of the Orthodox religious establishment, depriving men and women of
the right to choose between religious and civil marriage. Women were further
disadvantaged by certain aspects of Jewish law, especially relating to divorce
(e.g., the need to obtain the husband’s permission – a “get” – before being
allowed to remarry).
The advancement of women during the first decades of
the state was inhibited because women were not fully integrated into the
workforce and most were expected to return to traditional roles in the home
following the War of Independence. Furthermore, Israel’s first prime minister,
David Ben-Gurion, emphasized the importance of increasing the Jewish population
in Israel to strengthen the state, which was greatly outnumbered by its
enemies, and therefore encouraged women to “be fruitful and multiply” and focus
on their roles as mothers. Despite the value placed on women’s role in
addressing Israel’s demographic challenge, the literature and culture of that
time were mostly militaristic, dealing primarily with the War of Independence
and the heroism of men during the war.
The Beginnings of Feminism in Israel: the 1970s
While women’s organizations were active from the first
years of the Yishuv, feminism as a theoretical and social stream began only in
the 1970s. Shulamit Aloni is considered the founder of feminism in Israel
because of her contribution to feminist thought,[3] her
founding of the Ratz party in 1973 -- the first party to champion the causes of
human and civil rights and the advancement of women -- and her inclusion of
Marcia Freedman, who promoted activism in Israel based on her experience in the
feminist movement in the United States, in the Ratz Party’s Knesset list.
Another important step in the struggle for the
advancement of women in Israel came a decade later, when emphasis was placed in
the advancement of women in the workplace and their empowerment. Dafna Izraeli
and other scholars[4] emphasized
in the 1980s, following the theories proposed by Virginia Woolf in 1920s
England,
[5] that
without the integration of women into the workforce and management, without economic
independence and participation in the control over resources and budgets, women
would never be able to attain their independence and sovereignty. Another
decade later, the next level was attained with the establishment of the Knesset
Committee on the Status of Women (1992), whose contribution has been of the
utmost significance.
The Status of Women in Israel's Labor
One of the most important litmus tests of the status of
women in any country is the degree of equality in the labor market. In
Israel,
approximately 50% of women participate in the workforce. This compares
favorably internationally, as well as with men in Israel (62% of whom are in
the workforce). Nevertheless, severe unemployment exists among Israeli Arab women (only 22% of Arab women work), women residing in peripheral regions, and
middle-aged women (aged 45-64).
Once women enter the labor force, they face a large
salary gap compared with their male coworkers. The average gap per hour of work
in 2008 was 19%, and due to the fact that men work more hours per month, the
actual salary discrepancies are approximately 25% in the public sector and 35%
in the private sector.
Chart 1: Gross
Income Per Work Hour for Employee, by Sex
Source:
Central Bureau of Statistics, 2007 Report, Chart 2
This discrepancy, which is not unique to
Israel
, provokes
outrage among women in
Israel
and around the world who are offended by the fact that they may have equal
education and skills, and devote as much energy to their job as their male
counterparts, and still are compensated in a discriminatory manner.
Many studies have been conducted with regard to the
gender pay gap and found the following causes:[6]
- Occupational segregation between female and male
workers
-
Discrimination against women in the labor market
and the workplace
-
Unequal distribution of family responsibility
-
Gender gap in educational levels between women
and men
-
Gender gap in work experience between women and
men
-
The trade unions push wages up in protected
segments that mainly include male employees
-
State privatization of the labor market widens
salary gaps
-
Employers pay unfair salaries
-
Part-time work primarily impacts female
employees, and especially low wage earners.
-
Perceptions of women as second-income earners:
women are expected to work for "pin money" or "extras"
-
Women's fear and lack of capacity for salary
negotiations
For several decades, scholars attributed the gender pay
gap to the above causes; however, Grimshaw & Rubery (2007) argue that
"most recent
UK
studies show that gender differences in human capital or personal
characteristics (such as age, education and work experience) explain a
shrinking portion of the overall gender pay gap. The closing of the gender gap
in education has not done more to reduce the gender pay gap. This is also
indicated by international evidence" (2007, p. vii). Though the
advancement of women in higher education is very important, without cultural
change, the gender salary gap remains a problem.
These conclusions apply to
Israel
as well.
Women in Israel also disproportionately suffer from
Israel’s low minimum wage, approximately 3,500 NIS ($935) per month, or 20 NIS
($5.34) per hour, because they constitute the majority of minimum-wage earners
(70%). Additionally, even low wages that exceed the minimum do not allow for a
dignified existence. 50% of working women in
Israel
do not even reach the
threshold for paying income taxes, and 46% of those living under the poverty
line are working women and migrants.
The dramatic weakening of
Israel’s organized labor movement
beginning in the late 1990s also had a negative impact on women. While 90% of
the labor force was once organized through the Histadrut General Labor
Federation, today only 20% of
Israel’s
workforce is organized. A report by the Mahut Center found that the salaries,
dignity, and purchasing power of women have been greatly harmed by this trend,
because more women belong to the "secondary work market," and their
jobs are viewed as a "second job" in the society and family.[7]
Another litmus test for determining equality in the
workplace is the degree to which women attain middle and senior management
positions. The data regarding
Israel
are that women advance to middle management positions, of which they constitute
20-30%, whereas their advancement to senior management positions is blocked by
a “glass ceiling,” and they constitute only about 2% of senior management,
despite their abilities and experience. This is manifested in management
positions in finance, industry, and the military. In education, since 2000,
women have constituted approximately 50% of all teaching positions in higher
education and roughly 40% of teaching faculties at the entry level (lecturers),
but women hold only 10% of the highest academic positions (full professors),
and this percentage has only marginally increased over the past 20 years. In
2005, a
woman was chosen
for the first time as the president of an Israeli university,
Ben-Gurion University.
Another litmus in Israel test
for determining equality in the work market is the strong role of military
service in employment. Men get jobs often because of their military connections,
so women are at a competitive disadvantage in the labor market.
One area in which women’s rights are protected
surrounds pregnancy and birth. In Israel, maternity leave is 14
weeks, based on the recommendation of international standards. Every woman who
gives birth in Israel, even if she is not a resident of Israel, receives a birth grant as well as hospitalization costs. Women who had been working prior to giving birth receive their full salary during maternity leave. The state also grants a child allowance to parents for each child. In this respect, the situation in Israel is based
on the West European social security practice. There is also legislation that
forbids the firing of women during pregnancy and after childbirth, although
many employers contravene this, and many women are harmed or are forced to
petition labor courts. In addition, the feminist movement has contributed to changing
the attitude toward women as “secondary breadwinners,” and to normalizing the
idea of two careers for the two spouses. Therefore, more and more fathers are
gradually sharing in the roles of fatherhood and the home.
Status of Women in Israeli Politics
The struggle of women for equality greatly emphasizes
the inclusion of women at all levels of decision-making. As such, the struggle
to integrate women into senior political positions is central, since the state’s
public policies are shaped in the government, parliament, and municipal
authorities. Therefore, feminists focused on increasing the number of women in
national politics and in local governments. Moreover, as soon as women begin to
serve in the Knesset, their contributions to Knesset activities is greater than
that of their male colleagues.[8] Another important advantage that the participation of women in government has
for the advancement of equality is the educational and public relations value
of having women as normative role models for other women, who may then identify
with and learn from women in leadership positions and follow in their
footsteps.
In light of the struggle over this issue in many
democracies, the unequivocal conclusion is that the most effective tool for
increasing in the number of women in parliaments is the affirmative action
policy. It has been found that due to traditional perceptions, stereotypes,
lack of sufficient social networking, and lack of sufficient financial means to
run for office, women have a little chance of increasing their their
representation in the upper political echelons without active intervention..
Thus, in many countries the principle of affirmative
action has been instituted on behalf of women in politics. In most European
countries this is accomplished through political parties, and in a few
countries (such as
Argentina and France) this is accomplished by state law.
In Israel, the representation of women in the Knesset, the government, and municipal
authorities is very low in comparison with other democracies, and advancement
has been slow since the founding of the state. During the first Knesset terms,
representation of women was approximately 9%, and later it dropped to 7%.
Although it passed the 10% barrier in 2000, the maximum representation of
female members in the Knesset was 18%.
Israel is ranked 100th place among the nations of the world, lagging far behind not only European countries (in Scandinavia, women constitute nearly 38% of members of parliament), but also a large proportion of South American, Asian, and African nations.
The number of women in government is even lower. In
2009, only two out of thirty ministers are women. The maximum number of women
to serve in ministerial positions since the founding of the state was three Additionally,
very few women have attained the senior ministries of defense, foreign affairs,
and education. Nevertheless, in the 1970s Israel had a woman prime minister,
Golda Meir. The fact that Israel had one of the first female heads of state who
was a role model and inspiration as well as one of the most important political
figures in Israel’s history- is very important, but she represented an
exception and also did not advance a feminist agenda as prime minister.
On the municipal level, there are three woman mayors
out of 260 municipalities and regional councils, whereas there are countries in
which they represent 20-25% of mayors and heads of districts.
One effort to redress the dearth of women in Israeli
politics implemented by the political parties has been to reserve a certain
percentage of places on the party list for female candidates.[9] Meretz resolved that women would make up 40% of the first ten on its list
(although when the party is small, the actual percentage comes out lower); in
the Labor Party representation is 20%, in the Likud 10%, and in the former
National Religious Party the seventh spot was reserved for a woman. Several
parties categorically oppose female representation: the Ultra-Orthodox parties
and the Islamic Balad Party (secular-Arab parties do include women in their
lists). On the other hand, in the eighteenth Knesset, the “Israel Our Home”
Party placed five women in the Knesset out of a total of fifteen mandates
(33%), giving it the second highest representation of women in the Knesset
since the founding of the state. Four of ten Meretz MKs were women (1999-2003),
including one Arab woman. In the present Knesset, however, which began its term
in 2009, Meretz, the party that established feminism, does not have a single
woman in the Knesset.
Since the advancement of women representation through
the political parties did not succeed, a
Knesset bill in the 1990s' was aimed
at ensuring a mandatory representation of 30% on the Knesset list of each party.
The Knesset did not pass the bill.. Later, a law was proposed to advance the
representation of women in each party via state budget subsidies during
elections. The Knesset also rejected these bill, and the progress has been very
slow.
Another way to advance women in politics is by
empowering and training women for politics.[10] Most women’s organizations hold workshops and encourage women to take
leadership positions, emphasizing their training in the areas of career
planning and goal setting, self-confidence and self-image, assertiveness,
effective and attractive appearance, dealing with the media and public
relations, fundraising, and deployment of marketing.
While falling short of feminist objectives, some
significant achievements have also been recorded in the political sphere. For
example, during 2006-2009, Israel had a female Foreign Minister, Speaker of the
Knesset and Supreme Court justice – at one time!
Women in Judaism
There are various interpretations with regard to the
status of women in
Judaism. Some maintain that it is reasonable to interpret
the
Book of Genesis as establishing the equal status of women when it states:
“God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). This interpretation claims that the
statement “male and female He created them” grants full equality between men
and women in terms of value, rights, abilities, and contributions.
Additionally, at the end of the creation narrative, the equivalence of men and
women is reiterated: “Male and female He created them – and He blessed then and
called them Man on the day He created them” (Gen. 5:2). On the other hand, some
maintain otherwise based on the verse: “And the Lord God fashioned the rib that
He had taken from the man into a woman – and He brought her to the man. Then
the man said, ‘This one at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. This
one shall be called Woman (
ishah) for she was taken from man (
ish)’”
(Gen. 2:22-23). This interpretation claims that woman is “only” a rib of man,
and the superiority of man is thereby legitimized: “and he shall rule over you”
(Gen. 3:16). Similarly, we find expressions of esteem and empowerment such as
the passage about the “woman of valor” (Prov. 31:10-31) and “A woman of valor
who can find?” and “all the glory of the royal princess is within” (Ps. 45:14)
alongside expressions that minimize her stature such as “Blessed is He Who did
not make me a woman” (
b. Mehnahot 43b) and “A woman is unfit to give
testimony” (
b. Bava Kama 88a).
Thus, Jewish sources are multi-faceted when it comes to
the status of women, and it is up to subsequent generations to interpret them.
Orthodox women in Israel are engaged in this. In 1998, a group of activists and scholars, men and women,
founded the “Kolech” organization to highlight and strengthen the status,
position, and role of women on the basis of their interpretation of the
sources. They accomplish this by publishing studies and a newsletter and by
holding seminars, and they have influenced the religious-cultural discourse in Israel. Another
group comprises religious and secular women, scholars and writers, who are
continuing the efforts of their colleagues in the Unites States to shed light
and turn the spotlight onto the female characters of the Jewish Bible.[11]
The Struggle Against Religious Coercion
The
State of Israel is unique in three aspects: First,
it existed in the past, the Jews were exiled from it, and it was reestablished
after more than 2,000 years of exile. Second, until the third millennium, and
despite the establishment of the State of Israel, the majority of the Jewish
people lived in the
Diaspora and, even today, only about half of the world’s
Jews live in Israel. Third, due to this unique historical development, there is a very close link
between Jewish nationality and the Jewish religion, and this helped shape the
face of the state. Therefore, even though Israel cultivated and adopted
democratic rule, it is simultaneously a Jewish state, and the relationship
between religion and state is blurred without the strict separation codified in the United States. This fact impacts the character and legislation of Israel, especially with regard to
the relationship between religious and secularist Jews. In addition, there is a
struggle over pluralism within
Judaism: Israel recognizes the Orthodox and
Ultra-Orthodox streams of Judaism, while the Reform and Conservative movements,
which constitute the majority of American Jewry, for example, are forced to
fight for recognition. Against this background, disputes on matters of religion
and state have proliferated, many of which affect the status of women. The
issues over which the struggle to remove the restrictions of religious coercion
that pertain to women has taken place concern both legislation and lifestyle:
every year, a proposal to certify civil marriage and divorce as an alternative
to religious marriage is raised in the Knesset; there is a struggle to return
the social article to the Abortions Law, according to which women may abort for
social reasons and not just health reasons (this article was removed from the
law under pressure from the religious and Ultra-Orthodox parties); there is a
struggle to cancel ceremonies that are hurtful to women, such as the levirate
divorce (
halitza) ceremony; there is a struggle over the right of women
to pray at the
Western Wall (in services held by a group of women, the ‘Women
of the Wall,’ who come to pray at the wall each month); there is a struggle
over the right of women to serve as rabbis; there is a desire that Torah study
and prayer be mixed-gender; there is a struggle against separate seating for
men and women on buses; and there is a struggle against attacks on
Ultra-Orthodox women for dressing immodestly. Regarding most of these issues,
no real change has been achieved.
Nevertheless, there have been significant achievements
on behalf of women during the past decade in several areas of religion-state
relations: The establishment of family courts (1994) abrogated the exclusive
control of the rabbinical courts; the advancement of legislation to rescue
‘chained women’ (agunot) from their husbands’ refusal to grant a
divorce; the increased number of Ultra-Orthodox women in higher education
(especially due to the establishment of an Ultra-Orthodox college for women in
Jerusalem); and the first steps are being taken to professionally train and
integrate Ultra-Orthodox women into the workforce.
The Status of Arab Women in Israel
The Arab minority constitutes approximately 20% of Israel's population. On one hand, the Arab minority is a full participant in society and
has greatly progressed along with the prosperity of the State of Israel. On the
other hand, there is discrimination that created socioeconomic gaps between
Jews and Arabs, and there is often nationalist tension between the majority and
the minority. Arab women suffer from a double dose of discrimination in many
areas: First, their participation in the workforce is a mere 22%, less than
half the figure for Jewish women. This is a major hurdle preventing their
growth and integration into society and politics. Additionally, the fact that
education and welfare services in the Arab sector are inferior further harms
the women.
Second, they suffer from the discrimination of Arab men
since the patriarchal culture of
Israeli Arabs has been slower to unravel than
in the Jewish sector, and concepts such as “honor killings,” “ownership and
control of the wife by the husband”, and “arranged marriages” are more common in
it. Nevertheless, Arab –
Bedouin,
Druze, and Christian – women have been
establishing more and more nonprofit organizations to struggle for the
advancement of Arab women. The significant achievements of Arab women in recent
decades include their entry into the salaried workforce, their increasing
inclusion in high school education and beyond, the establishment of family
courts (in 2000), parallel to those in the Jewish sector, against the
exclusivity of Sharia courts, and the rise of organized groups of Arab women to
combat violence against Arab women.
The Struggle to Prevent Violence Against Women
The Prevention of Domestic Violence Law was enacted in
Israel
only in
1991. Until then, society was aware only of the serious crimes of rape and
murder. However, in the 1970s, as part of the agenda of
Israel’s
feminist movement, Ruth Resnick raised the issue of violence against women in
Israeli public debate.
[12]
At
first, the public was not aware of the phenomenon, but public advocacy efforts,
the establishment of the first shelters for battered women, and media exposure
of the issue increased awareness among the country’s population. Today,
Israel
has
fourteen shelters for battered women, including two in the Arab sector and one
in the Ultra-Orthodox sector, approximately sixty centers for treatment and
consultation to prevent domestic violence, and additional centers with
“hotlines.” Additionally, under pressure from women Knesset members and
organizations for sexual assault victims, the state began to pay for treatment
and assistance for victims of sexual assault and fund shelters and centers. The
government also adopted several laws to protect women such as the Prohibition
for Persons at Risk to Carry Weapons (1999) and the Prevention of Stalking Law
(2002). Moreover, the police increased officer training on this issue, and
women no longer encounter incredulity or contempt when they file complaints.
Despite the improvements through legislation, increased awareness, and media
exposure, sexual harassment and violence against women remain serious problems.
Prevention of Sexual Harassment
The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law was legislated in Israel in 1998.The law was initiated by former Knesset member Yael Dayan and submitted
by all women then serving in the Knesset. The law was one of the most
progressive of its kind in the world. Its first accomplishment was the
declaration of the objective of the law, which was defined broadly and
comprehensively: “The purpose of this law is to
prohibit sexual harassment in order to defend human dignity, freedom and
privacy and in order to promote equality between the sexes.” That is, it did
not only provide protection against sexual harassment; it undertook to protect
the dignity and freedom of women in the broadest possible sense.
The law defines five types of
behavior that would be considered sexual harassment: extortion by threat;
indecent acts; repeated propositions of a sexual nature addressed to a person
who has demonstrated to the harasser that s/he is not interested in the said
propositions; repeated references addressed to a person and focused on her/his
sexuality, when that person has demonstrated that s/he is not interested in the
said references; and a debasing reference to a person in connection with her/his
sex or sexual preference. In other words, in two of the types of sexual
harassment, the “obligation of refusal” devolves upon the woman, and the
repeated act is otherwise completely legitimate. However, even these two types
of harassment are prohibited a priori and do not require refusal under
the following conditions: toward a minor or helpless person; within a
caregiver-patient relationship; toward an employee within the framework of an
employment relationship; toward a person in military or police service; within
a student-teacher relationship. It was also established that sexual harassment
and bothering are criminal offenses.
The law is also innovative in
that it obligates employers and higher education institutions to take preventive
measures in the workplace: to publicly display the content of the law; to hold
seminars and public workshops, and to establish a disciplinary committee to
handle complaints. An employer who does not do is exposed criminal charges.
Prevention of Trafficking in Women
In 2000, a parliamentary
committee was established to fight against
trafficking in women. The committee
was headed by former Member of Knesset Zehava Gal-On, who noted in the summary
report of the committee’s activities:
[13]
“This ‘modern slave trade’ must not continue to exist in the
State of Israel without garnering the attention of state authorities and
legislative authorities. Human trafficking is a despicable phenomenon, the
women experience atrocities and degradations, and everything must be done to
prevent it.” In the report it is estimated that 3,000 women are smuggled into
Israel annually to work in the sex industry. This is a full-blown “industry” of
trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and it includes
smuggling, imprisonment, exploitation, and extortion. The sex industry has a
turnover of roughly $1 billion per annum. Most of the victims are young women,
aged 18-35. They are smuggled across the Egyptian border, raped, beaten, and
sold at public auctions for sums that range between $1,000 and $5,000. They are
exposed to severe physical abuse both from the traffickers and from customers.
Their passports are held by the traffickers to prevent them from fleeing, and they
are completely subservient to their traffickers.
After a number of years of struggles progress has been
achieved: increased public awareness, the passage of a law that prohibits human
trafficking, imposes a minimum sentence on traffickers, and authorizes the
police the to close houses of ill repute. The police has enhanced its enforcement
and lessened the number of trafficking victims; the number of traffickers who
have been convicted in court has risen; a rehabilitative shelter for women who
were victims of human trafficking has been established, and the Ministry of the
Interior has issued visas for victims to remain in Israel and become legally
employed.
Women Serving in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)
The patriarchal worldview views men as fighters and
expects them to be valiant and heroic and to sacrifice themselves when necessary.
In contrast, women are expected to stay at the home front during battles, to
strengthen the economy and the home and, at a time of distress, to bear tragedy
and bereavement in a dignified manner.
Women’s movements have called this “social order” into
question. Their objection is twofold: On one hand, presentation of an ethical
philosophical outlook that opposes the world of wars, militarism, belligerence,
destruction, and killing. In contrast, the feminist movements emphasize the
approach of humanism, points of agreement, and mediation. In addition, the
steep price that women pay during war has been written about and raised on the
public agenda. On the other hand, women have claimed that as long as countries
have militaries, service should be open to women as well to ensure equality and
to refine the behavior of combatants in training and in battle.
Israel
is the only country in the world with compulsory military service for all men
and women when they reach the age of 18 or complete their studies. This law
stemmed from defensive necessity due to the fact that at the end of the War of
Independence, the young State of Israel was surrounded by enemy states and its population
extremely small, about 600,000.
Throughout the existence of IDF, the duration of
service for men and women has been different. For example, men currently serve
thirty-six months and women serve twenty months. Additionally, the 1986 Defense
Service Law establishes that religious women are exempt from military service,
and those who wish may enlist in the National Service, where they constitute an
important auxiliary force within the community by performing activities such as
serving as youth group leaders and aiding in hospitals and educational
institutions. Israeli Arabs do not serve in IDF, and only a tiny minority joins
the Civil Service, a program that began in recent years.
From an institutional perspective, during the first
decades of the state women in the military were organized in a separate corps,
headed by the Chief Women’s Corps Officer. Over the past few decades, their
integration into the various IDF units has increased, and a senior female
officer serves as the Women’s Affairs Advisor to the Chief of Staff.
Compulsory IDF service for women has inspired a variety
of disputes in recent decades. The first is the issue of the nature and quality
of women’s service. The claim is that notwithstanding the women who are
included in the tasks of training, welfare, and education, most young women are
assigned to non-vocational roles, and their largely clerical functions do not
take advantage of their high school education and their capabilities. Thus,
there is a basic failure to achieve the goal of an equal take-off for women
later in civilian life. Those who adopt this approach have struggled to open a
much wider variety of military tasks to women serving in the military. In 1995
Alice Miller, together with the Women’s Lobby and women Knesset members, led a campaign
against IDF over her right to join flight training. When the military responded
in the negative, Miller petitioned the Supreme Court. The military opposed on
the grounds of physical incompatibility of women for the prestigious flight
course and due to the large cost associated with adapting separate conditions
for women. The High Court of Justice ruled that the principle of equality,
which comprises one of the state’s cardinal values, justifies and demands the
financial investment. Since 1995, the flight course, and in its wake the
Shayetet naval special force unit now enlists women. In
2000 a
law was passed requiring
the IDF to open combat service roles to thousands of women.
Another central issue is the promotion and placement of
women in senior command positions. The struggle waged by the Knesset Committee
on the Status of Women is not only to expand the range of vocations that women
can hold in IDF, but also on the professional advancement of women in career
military. Only a minority of female officers attain senior positions.
Another publicly debated issue is the institution of an
alternative track to military service for women who are not religious but prefer
community service to military service. A non-profit organization was
established to allow for several hundred such community service workers. At the
same time, in recent years demands for stricter tests of the degree of
religiosity of women who claim to be religious have been mounting as women who
simply declare that they are religious are not enlisted.
Women in the Peace Movement
In the wake of U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1325 (October 2000), which establishes the
obligation to include women in peace negotiations, Israel passed a law in 2005
mandating adequate representation of women in peace negotiating teams. Even
before this law was enacted, however, women have played a large part in the
peace movements.
Peace Now is
Israel
’s oldest peace movement. It
was founded in 1978 with the publication of the “Officers’ Letter,”[14] a
public letter to Prime Minister Menachem Begin, calling on him to make peace.
The letter was signed by 10 officers, including Yuli Tamir. Since then, Peace
Now has diversified its activism to public education, demonstrations, and
protests to put pressure on Israelis and Palestinians to advance peace
initiatives. Women play a significant and leading functions in the movement’s
activities, led by Janet Aviad, Galia Golan, Tamar Gozansky, and Shoshanna
Kerem.
Women in Black is a women’s protest movement that has adopted the modus operandi of the
South American women’s protest organization of the same name. The women have
set themselves the goal of fighting against the occupation, and they have held
protests for many years at intersections throughout Israel at set dates and times.
Bat Shalom is an organization of Jewish,
Palestinian, and Arab women established in 1989 to nurture and encourage
Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. Its major contribution was that the women
preceded by several years the dialogue that led to the signing of the
Oslo
Agreements in 1993.
Four Mothers was established in 1997 with the
objective of demanding that Israel withdraw from
Southern Lebanon. The
organization originated after a tragic accident on February 4, 1997, when two
transport helicopters carrying troops into Southern Lebanon collided killing all
73 soldiers on board This incident prompted a group of mothers to organize to
stop what they viewed as the “unending cost in blood of the ‘Lebanese
quagmire.’”
[15] Protestors
kept a vigil outside the prime minister’s residence and ultimately played a
role in Prime Minister
Ehud Barak’s decision in May 2000 to unilaterally withdraw
from Lebanon.
While most of the peace groups are associated with the
political left in Israel, Women in Green is a movement of women who oppose the withdrawal from
occupied territories as well as any negotiations to establish a Palestinians
state. While other peace movements see settlements as an obstacle to peace, WIG
see them as an asset to Israeli security and therefore operate alongside
official settler organizations.
Women and Poverty Post-2001
The levels of poverty in Israel grew between 2002 and 2003,
and they have remained high ever since. In 2008, 19% of families (420,000
families, including 1,651,300 individuals) lived below the poverty line. The
poverty level among children was even higher – 34% (783,000).
Social, economic, and budgetary policies impact all
citizens of the state; however, the erosion of the welfare state and the
growing level of poverty had a disproportionately negative impact on women.
This is due to three causes: First, poverty among pensioners in Israel is very
high, 22.7%,[16] and there
are more female pensioners than male pensioners because the average life
expectancy of women is five years longer than that of men (81 for women versus 76
for men). Nearly one-third of all women on pensions live below the poverty
line. Second, poverty among single parents is even higher (28.8%) than that for
pensioners and, because the vast majority of single parents are women, they
suffer the most. Third, working women find themselves in a lower economic stratum
because they represent a majority of minimum wage-earners.[17]
Legislation for the Advancement of Women
The advancement of the status of women requires, in the
first place, social and economic changes as well as changes in awareness, although
legislation makes a significant contribution by shaping public policies and by requiring
citizens to act in accordance with them.
The Knesset has legislated a variety of laws that aim
to protect and advance women’s rights (see appendix). However, Israel still
lacks certain important legal protections and inadequately enforces existing
laws.
As noted earlier, a significant problem is the
relationship between religion and the state and its implications for women’s
rights in matters of personal status. In addition, the state has not provided
adequate arrangements to facilitate two careers. The failure to implement laws
such as the Free Education from Age Three Law (1998) and the Extended School
Day Law (1997) has harmed the ability of women to enter the workforce and to
keep a reasonable balance between their two careers – work and family.
The existence of enlightened and progressive laws does
not ensure the actual improvement of the status of women due to the lack of
implementation of the laws, the state’s lax enforcement, the allocation of
paltry resources, and the small number of lawsuits filed by women. Israel established the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in 2006 to address
some of the shortcomings of the existing laws and to strengthen the equality of
the status of women at work.
Organizations for the Advancement of Women
The shaping and advancing of the status of women in
Israel, as in any country, is the product of cultural world views, public
policy, and legislation, but also no less the product of an institutional and
organizational network tasked with the implementation and assimilation of the
policy. This began with
Israel
’s
women’s organizations. Na’amat (The Movement of Working Women &
Volunteers), founded as part of the Histadrut General Labor Federation in 1920,
has been the largest women’s organization for decades. Na’amat’s two major
projects were the establishment of day-care centers for preschoolers nationwide
and the establishment of units to treat and advise women throughout the
country, in the Jewish and Arab sectors alike. Other organizations that have
made positive contributions to the status of women include Emuna and WIZO.
Since the 1980s, the institutional network for women
has expanded. In 1984, another extra-parliamentary organization, the Israel
Women’s Lobby, headed by Prof. Alice Shalvi, was founded. The emphasis of
the Women’s Lobby is on the involvement of women in shaping legislation and
influencing the policy of decision-makers. Traditional women’s organizations
also became more active in politics in addition to continuing their field work.
In the 1990s, women of Mizrahi origin (Jews from Arab
countries) founded their own organization,
Ahoti, because they did not
feel the existing women’s organizations reflected the variety of women in Israel. Organizers saw a need to empower
Mizrahi,
Ethiopian, and
Arab women, as well as the weakest women from a socioeconomic vantage point,
In addition to these nongovernmental organizations, the
state also became more active in creating mechanisms
for the advancement of women starting with the institutionalizing of the
position of Prime Minister's Advisor on the Status of Women in the 1980s, following the
publication of the first Report on the Status of Women. Other state-sponsored initiatives included:
-
In 1992, the founding of the Knesset Committee on the
Status of Women, which has made a major contribution by leveraging the issue of
the advancement of women in Israel through legislation, by shaping public
policy, by raising awareness, and through supervision.
-
In 1995, the role of Supervisors of the Advancement of
the Status of Women was institutionalized in all government ministries and
public companies.
- In 1996, the Authority on the Status of Women was
founded within the Prime Minister’s Office, replacing the Advisor. This upgrade
was necessary to give the authority the tools to operate a real program for the
advancement of women. Additionally, a Supervisor of the Advancement of Women in
the State Service Commission, Adv. Rivka Shaked, was appointed at that time.
-
In 2000, the umbrella for the advancement of women was
broadened with the passage of the Appointment of a Supervisor of the Status of
Women to all Local Authorities in Israel Law (the law was amended in 2008 to
increase their powers and budgets).
-
In 2008, an Equal Employment Opportunities Commission
was established and tasked with advancing and preventing discrimination against
women, minorities, and other discriminated populations.
Achievements and Failures in the Advancement of
Women in
Israel
The balance sheet for the advancement of women is mixed.
On the positive side major achievements
include:
1.
The entry of women into the labor market broadening
their importance in all sectors.
2.
Israel’s legislation is amongst the world’s most
progressive, raising awareness, oversight and institutionalizing supervision.
3.
Providing
greater protection to women by intensifying the struggles against violence
toward women, sexual harassment and the trafficking in women.
4.
Increasing awareness and information, including the
commemoration of International Women’s Day and the International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women.
5.
Strengthening the voice of women in social-cultural
formation; women in literature, the media, religion, peace, and war.
6.
Approaching equality in the number of students in
higher education, including doctoral students, and instituting Gender Studies.
7.
A pluralistic outlook that incorporates feminism’s
attitude toward various populations such as single-parents and lesbians.
8.
Expansion of feminism to all areas: health, disability,
sports; and all sectors: the periphery, immigrants, Arabs, and pensioners.
9.
Advancement of sexual equality in the military; this
constitutes the jumping-off point for women into their civilian lives.
10.
Supreme
Court rulings on representation of women in religious councils, a flexible
retirement age for working women, affirmative action and others precedents that
have expanded women’s rights.
These positive
steps forward must be seen in the context of a number of failures and
challenges that remain for the advancement of women, including:
1.The failure to embrace the idea that the development of
women has potential for the society and the state.
2.
Slowing of the process of integration of women into the
workplace; Arab women, making the retirement age earlier, part-time work.
[unclear]
3.
The continued existence of pay gaps in the public and
private sectors and the failure to raise minimum wage.
4.
The perpetuation of a glass ceiling preventing women
from reaching senior positions in the public and private sector.
5.
The lack of implementation of affirmative action laws.
6.
Failure to construct society for two breadwinners per
family, as lack of free education from age three, extended school day, etc.
7.
No separation of religion and state in matters of
personal status
8.
Under-representation politically; on the national level
(in the Knesset and the government) and in municipal authorities.
9.
Deficient enforcement, mainly of labor laws, and
lenient rulings; especially rulings that harm women.
10.
Insufficient
funding for ministerial and municipal supervisors, for education, and for
women’s organizations.
11.
Slow
assimilation, cultural change, and educational processes; low availability of
information for some of the state’s populations.
Overall, the
status of women in Israel has advanced greatly, especially during the 1990s. Nevertheless, the status of
women in the future will be decided not only by feminist perspectives, but by
the public policy that Israel adopts.
Appendix
Legislation for the Advancement of Women in
Israel
A. General legislation to strengthen the status of
women.
The status and civil rights of women in
Israel as a whole is based on the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom 5752-1992, inasmuch as it is the basic law for all human rights in Israel. The Women’s Equal Rights Law, 5711-1951,
amended in 2000, makes explicit the rights of women.
B. Laws regarding the status of women in family
matters
As noted, Israeli legislation compromised with the
status quo on matters of religion and state, and therefore marriage and divorce
are regulated under the Rabbinical Courts’ Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce)
Law, 5713-1953 and the Rabbinical Court (Implementation of Divorce Judgment) Law,
5755-1995. Nevertheless, the establishment of family courts was instituted in
5755-1995, and was extended to non-Jewish sectors in 2000. Other family matters
that were enshrined by law are the 1972 Child Support Law; the Single Parent
Families Act, 5752-1992; the Surrogate Motherhood Agreements Act, 5756-1996;
the Property Relations between Spouses (Amendment No. 4) Law, 5769-2008, which
obligates spouses to equally divide at the time of divorce all assets that they
accumulated jointly, including savings that accumulated from the marriage (the
law replaced the discriminatory arrangement that had been the law since 1973).
C. Legislation
to ensure the rights of women in society and welfare
In this issue, the main legislation that pertains to
women appears in two major laws that are designed for the entire population, in
which there are adaptations specifically for women. These are the National
Insurance Law (Consolidated Version), 5755-1995 and the Income Tax Ordinance
Act (Consolidated Version). In this legislation, the various articles enshrine
entitlements that pertain specifically to women, such as allocating birth costs
and birth grants, child allowances and tax credits.
D. Advancement and protection of women in the
workplace
Israeli legislation pertaining to the advancement of
women in the work place is diverse and progressive in the main. The principle
laws are:
The Employment of Women Law (5714-1954); the Male and
Female Workers (Equal Retirement Age) Law, 5747-1987; the Employment (Equal
Opportunities) Law, 5748-1988; the Male and Female Workers Equal Pay Law,
5756-1996 (which replaced the earlier law on this issue from 1964); the Public
Tender Act (Amendment No. 15), 5763-2003 (preference for businesses owned by
women in government tenders); the Retirement Age Act, 5764-2004; the Employment
(Equal Opportunities) Law (Amendment: Establishment of an Equal Employment
Opportunities Commission), 5766-2006; Encouragement of Integration and
Advancement of Women at Work and the Adaptation of Workplaces for Women Law,
5768-2008; each law enshrines the rights of working women and obligates the
state and employers in the specified area under the law.
E. Integration of women in public life and ensuring
representation of women
Issues of enlistment of women into the IDF are
enshrined in this framework: the Defense Service Law, 5719-1959 and the
National Service Law from the same year. In 2000, an amendment was inserted
into the Defense Service Law (Amendment No. 11) (Women in Combat Units),
5760-2000; the issue of institutionalization of mechanisms to handle the
advancement of women was anchored in the law: The Authority for the Advancement
of the Status of Women, 5758-1998 as well as the Local Authorities Law (Advisor
on Matters of the Status of Women), 5760-2000. Regarding the issue of ensuring
representation of women, the following laws were legislated: The Governmental
Companies Law (Amendment No. 6) (Adequate Representation), 5753-1993, which
mandates the representation of women in public boards of directors and was
later expanded to private boards of directors as well; the State Service
(Appointments) Law (Amendment No. 8) (Adequate Representation of Women in State
Service), 5755-1995; the Women’s Equal Rights Law (Amendment No. 3), 5765-2005,
which obligates the state to ensure adequate representation of women in bodies
that conduct peace negotiations, and laws that establish responsibility for
adequate representation of women on national councils of health, culture, and
sports.
F. Prevention of domestic violence
The following laws exist for this subject: The
Prevention of Domestic Violence Law, 5751-1991; the Sexual Harassment
Prevention Law, 5758-1998; the Firearms Law (Amendment No. 12), 5759-1999,
which prevents an at-risk person from bearing a weapon; the Prevention of
Stalking Law, 5761-2001; the Anti-Trafficking Law (5767-2007).
