The battle isn’t over yet

Op-ed: Israeli women must face obstacles that women in many other countries are spared

Reuters | Published: 03.08.11, 18:13

The fact that International Women’s day is a global event shows that discrimination is not exclusive to Judaism or to the Torah, which characterized Eve as a “helper.” However, Israel, unlike many other states, has “distinguished itself” in turning many female advantages into drawbacks.

Only in Israel, which is an international powerhouse in the field of artificial insemination, a woman who is forced to stay away from work because of fertility treatments faces the threat of dismissal. Only in Israel, whose first prime minister promised a reward for births and a state that still faces an existential demographic threat, a woman may be fired because she stays home with a sick child.

Only in Israel, a woman who seeks to combine a large family with a successful career is considered a greedy juggler who “wants to have it all.” And I’m speaking based on personal experience here. After I gave birth to my fourth daughter, my boss asked: “How many more kids do you plan on having?” In response I informed him that I was quitting, without compensation of course.

Only in Israel, where a significant portion of one’s salary must be transferred to the tax authorities, making one-income families largely impossible, special jobs “for women” were invented. These positions not only demand sensitivity and devotion, but also offer an insulting salary defined as “a second income in the household.” These outrageous salaries are lower than what would have been offered to men.

In modern-day Israel, where women are combat pilots, brain surgeons, financial whizzes, and leading chefs, nobody will dare characterize them as the “weaker sex.” Yet even modern-day Israel, which does not doubt women’s education and skills, shows sympathy to a single mother who is forced to work the whole day in order to provide for her children. However, a woman who chooses a gratifying career she loves and enlists the aid of nannies (who are not recognized as a tax-deductable expense) is accused by society of neglecting her offspring.

The criticism hurled at Israeli women prompts the conclusion that we will not find our salvation among men, but rather, it must come from us, based on female fraternity that will be more than a mere slogan. The revolution will take place when women refer to each other as “sister,” not as a pet name, but rather, based on recognition that we are indeed blood sisters, in respect to both discrimination and revival.