A Discussion for Women
 
With Rachel Liel, NIF’s Executive Director in Israel
 
 
In Israel, women are leading the movement for social justice.  Women were instrumental in this summer’s tent city protests, which involved the largest demonstrations in the country’s history culminating in the establishment of a special government commission to address protestor grievances.  Women also head some of Israel’s most prominent civil society organizations and progressive political parties. Against this backdrop, gender segregation in the Israeli public sphere is growing, women are paid an average of only 62 percent of men's salaries, and tens of thousands of religious women are trapped in unhappy marriages because their husbands will not grant them a divorce. What do these conflicting pictures tell us about the state of women’s issues in contemporary Israeli society?  Rachel Liel will explore this question and also recount recent successes, obstacles, and next steps in Israel’s women’s rights movement.