Sexual Harassment, Divorce Law, & Women’s Exclusion: Gender Reality in Israel, and Israeli Women’s Perception

Abstract

Israel boasts a strict, effective Law for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment. At the same time, it explicitly discriminates against women in the context of marriage and divorce. Additionally, in the twenty first century, there is a strong movement, coming from conservative ultra-orthodox Jewish circles, to segregate women in the public sphere and exclude them from “male only” zones. Nevertheless, Israeli women seem to overlook these severe threats to their equality, and prefer to invest their feminist energy in the struggle against sexual harassment and gendered violence. This chapter frames the phenomenon, offering background, explanation and analysis.

Key Words: sexual harassment, marriage and divorce law, gender exclusion, #MeToo, dignity

1.       Introduction

This chapter presents the complicated gender reality that Israeli women face. In the 21st century, Israeli law offers better protection from sexual harassment than any other. At the same time, Israeli women are discriminated against in ways that women in Western countries are unfamiliar with: Israeli women are completely at the mercy of their husbands regarding divorce, and are gradually excluded from various aspects of public life. Presenting this unique gender reality, the chapter argues that Israeli women tend to misconceive their distinctive condition. Taking Israel’s discriminatory marriage and divorce law for granted and identifying with the global community of women they encounter via the internet and social networks, Israeli women–especially millennials–are not sufficiently aware of the uniqueness of their national gender reality, nor of the specific courses of action that it requires. Eagerly identifying with and participating in global movements like #MeToo, they focus on sexual harassment and mostly ignore their country’s discriminatory law of marriage and divorce, as well as the expanding exclusion of women from Israel’s public sphere. Their confusion renders transparency to the discriminatory aspects of Israel’s gender reality and further augments it.

The first section of this chapter offers an overall view of Israeli women’s socio-legal situation; it further argues that immersed in global social media, Israeli women are not fully aware of the uniqueness of their own condition. The section fleshes out the argument and contextualizes it, suppling historical background. The succeeding sections describe in some detail Israel’s Law for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (section 3), then Israel’s legal treatment of marriage and divorce (section 4), and finally women’s deepening exclusion from the public sphere in contemporary Israel (section 5). These presentations highlight the differences that distinguish gender reality in Israel from that in the West in these three areas. The closing section (section 6) explains why Israel’s treatment of sexual harassment is so progressive, whereas marriage and divorce are so discriminatory, and the exclusion of women deepens.

The chapter’s argument regarding Israeli women’s self-perception refers to the mainstream group of Zionist, Jewish Israeli women. Israel’s “equality myth”, presented in section 2, and young women’s deep familiarity with social media, are particularly typical of Zionist, Jewish Israeli women, who make up 60-70% of the women in Israel. The social constructions of Palestinian Israeli women, of ultra-orthodox Jewish women in Israel and of other women of minority groups are quite distinct and require separate discussions. Israel‘s legal regime, discussed in sections 3-5, applies equally to them all.