Israel

Between Universal Feminism and Particular Nationalism: Politics, Religion and Gender (In)Equality in Israel

Citation:

Halperin-Kaddari, Ruth, and Yaacov Yadgar. 2010. “Between Universal Feminism and Particular Nationalism: Politics, Religion and Gender (In)Equality in Israel.” Third World Quarterly 31 (6): 905-20. doi:10.1080/01436597.2010.502721.

Authors: Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Yaacov Yadgar

Abstract:

This article argues that one of the many ‘idiosyncrasies’ of the Israeli case, namely Israel’s continuing, violent conflict with its Arab neighbours, is of highly influential relevance to the issue of gender relations. Viewed by many Israeli Jews as a struggle for the very existence of the Jewish state, the Arab–Israeli conflict has overshadowed most other civil and social issues, rendering them ‘secondary’ to the primary concern of securing the safe existence of the state. This has pushed such pressing issues as gender equality and women’s rights aside, thus allowing for the perpetuation of discriminatory, sometimes rather repressive treatment of women in Israel. The most blatant expression of this is the turning of the struggle for civil marriage and divorce into a non-issue. Following a short introduction of the relevant political context, we discuss women’s positivist and legal status, then conclude with an analysis of the women’s movement, highlighting the emergence of religious feminism.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Nationalism, Religion, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 2010

Trafficking in Persons for the Purpose of Prostitution: The Israeli Experience

Citation:

Gershuni, Rochelle. 2004. “Trafficking in Persons for the Purpose of Prostitution: The Israeli Experience.” Mediterranean Quarterly 15 (4): 133-46.

Author: Rochelle Gershuni

Topics: Gender, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 2004

The Currency of Victimhood in Uncanny Homes: Queer Immigrants’ Claims for Home and Belonging Through Anti-Homophobic Organising

Citation:

Kuntsman, Adi. 2009. “The Currency of Victimhood in Uncanny Homes: Queer Immigrants’ Claims for Home and Belonging Through Anti-Homophobic Organising.” Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies 35 (1): 133–49.

Author: Adi Kuntsman

Abstract:

This paper is based on an ethnographic study of Russian-speaking queer immigrants in Israel and, in particular, on their organising against homophobia. The paper follows the queer immigrants' claims that the homophobic attacks they experience are similar to anti-Semitism and the persecution of Jews by the Nazis. Engaging with Freud's notion of the double as uncanny, I trace the relations of doubleness and substitution between two figures: the humiliated homosexual and the persecuted Jew. What does it mean, I ask, that injuries of homophobia are compared to injuries of anti-Semitism? What does it mean that Jewish immigrants in Israel claim that they are persecuted 'just like the Jews'? Throughout the paper I explore questions of migration and sexuality, as well as issues of Israeli nationalism and the currency of victimhood in claims for national belonging.

Topics: LGBTQ, Nationalism, Religion, Sexuality Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 2009

Religious Women Fighters in Israel's War of Independence: A New Gender Perception, or a Passing Episode?

Citation:

Rosenberg-Friedman, Lilach. 2003. "Religious Women Fighters in Israel's War of Independence: A New Gender Perception, or a Passing Episode?" Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issuesno.6, 119-47.

Author: Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Religion Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 2003

Tensions in Israeli Feminism: The Mizrahi Ashkenazi Rift

Citation:

Dahan-Kalev, Henriette. 2001. "Tensions in Israeli Feminism: The Mizrahi Ashkenazi Rift" Women's Studies International Forum 24: 1-16.

Author: Henriette Dahan-Kalev

Abstract:

The idea of women's liberation was imported in the 1970s from the West by liberal feminist activists who immigrated to Israel. The first Israeli feminists adopted all the liberal feminist slogans and ideology together with their advantages and the disadvantages. The implantation of these ideas in the Israel—a country torn ethnically—has produced a conflict from which Mizrahi feminism has evolved. By the 1990s, Mizrahi women who participated in feminist activity, and who found themselves excluded and marginalized by the Ashkenazi women who dominated the Israeli feminist movement began to give expression to their feelings of oppression. This reached a peak in 1995 in Natanya with the First Mizrahi Feminist Annual Conference. This article outlines the historical, social, political and ideological processes in which Mizrahi feminism developed. It shows how slogans such as sisterhood and solidarity, have been used to endorse activities which do not benefit women of all the different ethnic groups in Israel. The article includes a discussion of dilemmas that arise from “tokenism” and the purportedly universalist feminist agenda. The Mizrahi feminist agenda and its ideological framework, as well as its strategic aspects, are also critically reviewed.

Topics: Ethnicity, Feminisms, Gender, Women Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 2001

Gender Identity, Nationalism, and Social Action among Jewish and Arab Women in Israel: Redefining the Social Order?

Citation:

Moore, Dahlia. 2000. "Gender Identity, Nationalism, and Social Action Among Jewish and Arab Women in Isreal: Redefining the Social Order?" Gender Issues 18 (2).

Author: Dahlia Moore

Abstract:

In the study this article explores, the meaning of gender identity for religious and secular Jewish and Arab women in Israeli society is examined. The study focuses on how Israeli women rank gender identity relative to other identities like being Jewish/Arab, being Israeli/Palestinian, religious or secular, of a certain ethnic group, and political identity. It examines the characteristics of gender identity and the attitudes that are associated with it. The analysis shows that the hierarchies of identities are different for religious and secular Jewish and Arab women, and that this is related to having different sociopolitical attitudes (e.g., Women's social and political involvement, social obedience, social influence). Thus, the hierarchy of identities and the sociopolitical attitudes of religious women indicate a more consensual acceptance of the social order than the hierarchy of identities and the sociopolitical attitudes of secular women, especially among Arab women.

Topics: Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Nationalism, Religion Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2000

Front and Rear: The Sexual Division of Labor in the Israeli Army

Citation:

Yuval-Davis, Nira. 1985. “Front and Rear: The Sexual Division of Labor in the Israeli Army.” Feminist Studies 11 (3): 649-75. doi:10.2307/3180123.

Author: Nira Yuval-Davis

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 1985

The Silenced Outcry: A Feminist Perspective from the Israeli Checkpoints in Palestine

Citation:

Naaman, Dorit. 2006. “The Silenced Outcry: A Feminist Perspective from the Israeli Checkpoints in Palestine.” National Women’s Studies Association Journal 18 (3): 168–80.

Author: Dorit Naaman

Abstract:

This paper discusses the activities of Machsom Watch, a human rights organization of Israeli women who visit the checkpoints in the occupied West Bank daily to monitor the army's operation of the checkpoints and intervene when possible. The paper examines the presence of Israeli women at the checkpoints vis-à-vis both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians, and it explores some gendered aspects of the occupation, as manifested in the checkpoints and in the activities of Machsom Watch.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 2006

Leadership Behind the Curtains: The Case of Israeli Women in 1948

Citation:

Kabalo, Paula. 2008. “Leadership Behind the Curtains: The Case of Israeli Women in 1948.” Modern Judaism 28 (1): 14–40.

Author: Paula Kabalo

Abstract:

This article explores the role of the Council of Women's Organization (CWO) in the political activity of Israeli women. According to the author, the coalition was established in view of the Arab uprising of 1936 to allow women in the Yishuv to speak out on political matters. She indicates that the CWO offered itself as a public entity that is willing to pledge its forces to assistance in any action needed. In addition, the author discusses the impact of the establishment of the Israeli Defence Forces on the operation of the CWO. (EBSCO)

Topics: Gender, Women, International Organizations, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Political Participation Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 2008

Militarization and Gender: The Israeli Experience

Citation:

Golan, Galia. 1997. “Militarization and Gender: The Israeli Experience.” Women’s Studies International Forum 20 (5-6): 581–86. doi:10.1016/S0277-5395(97)00063-0.

Author: Galia Golan

Abstract:

The major effect of militarization on the status of women and gender equality derives from the centrality accorded the army in Israeli society. In a society engaged in war or protracted armed conflict the army assumes an essential and critical role in the lives and views of its citizens. Insofar as the army is a patriarchal institution, it is these patriarchal values, norms and stereotypes that will be promulgated and reinforced as the young citizen moves from adolescence to adulthood in his and her obligatory military service. The different nature (and length) of this service for men as distinct from women, combined with the different way in which the military service of the two sexes is perceived both by the military and the society at large, and the advantages accrued to the men, as distinct from the women, all contribute to the inequality of women in Israeli society. The essentiality of the male--because of his dominant role in the army (as distinct from the female's merely subordinate role) and the attributes achieved by the male through his combat service (from which women are barred), render the male more "valued" by a society at war, that is, a society for which military security is the central preoccupation. How this effects women's interest in peace is a controversial question, only partially addressed by research and women's peace activism in Israel.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarization, Peacebuilding Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Israel

Year: 1997

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