Women in Israel

In the summer of 1986, Israel was the site of, among other things, the following events:
• a special Knesset session on the problems faced by Israeli women at the hands of the state’s rabbinical courts.
• a conference held in Jerusalem for educators concerned with developing nonsexist curricula for Israeli schools.
• an international women’s music festival held in Be’er Sheva.

These events are representative of a new momentum evident in the struggle for women’s equality in Israel. After years of long and persistent effort on the part of a small number of indefatigable activists, the issue is now very much in the public eye, and there are signs of slow but certain progress on a number of fronts. All sectors of Israeli society— political and religious life, education, academia, the arts—have been touched by the new activist spirit.