Israeli Women's Studies: A Reader / Edition 1

by Esther Fuchs, Judith Buber Agassi, Deborah Bernstein, Tamar El-Or, Ayala Emmett

Overview

Israeli women do not enjoy the equality, status, and power often attributed to them by the media and popular culture. Despite significant achievements and progress, as a whole they continue to earn less than their male counterparts, are less visible and influential in the political arena, do not share equal responsibilities or privileges in the military, have unequal rights and freedoms in family life and law, and are less influential in shaping the nation's self image and cultural orientation.

Bringing together classic essays by leading scholars of Israeli culture, this reader exposes the hidden causes of ongoing discrimination and links the restrictions that Israeli women experience to deeply entrenched structures, including colonial legacies, religious traditions, capitalism, nationalism, and ongoing political conflict. In contrast, the essays also explore how women act creatively to affect social change and shape public discourse in less ostensible ways.

Providing balanced perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities, this comprehensive reader reflects both an emerging consensus and exciting diversity in the field. It is the definitive text for courses in Israeli women's studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813536163
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	08/10/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

ESTHER FUCHS is a professor in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic studies at the University of Arizona and the author of Israeli Mythogynies: Women in Contemporary Hebrew Fiction.

Table of Contents

Introduction : Israeli women's studies / Esther Fuchs
The Zionist women's movement in Palestine, 1911-1927 : a sociological analysis / Dafna N. Izraeli
Manya Wilbushewitz-Shohat and the winding road to Sejera / Shulamit Reinharz
Daughters of the nation : between the public and the private spheres in pre-state Israel / Deborah S. Bernstein
From zero to hero : masculinity in Jewish nationalism / Tamar Mayer
Bearers of the collective : women and religious legislation in Israel / Nira Yuval-Davis
Paradoxes and social boundaries : ultra-orthodox Jewish women and their world / Tamar El-Or
The ritualized body : brides, purity, and the mikveh / Susan Sered
The status of women in kibbutz society / Judith Buber Agassi
Growing up female and Palestinian / Manar Hassan ; translated by Sharon Beéman
Between the flag and the banner : dilemmas in the political life of Israeli women / Yael Yishai
Homefront and battlefront : the status of Jewish and Palestinian women in Israel / Hanna Herzog
Homefront as battlefront : gender, military occupation, and violence against women / Simona Sharoni
Citizens of the state and political women / Ayala Emmett
Gender performance in a changing military : women soldiers in "masculine" roles / Orna Sasson-Levy
Amalia Kahana-Carmon and contemporary Hebrew women's fiction / Esther Fuchs
Making the silences speak in Israeli cinema / Ella Shohat
The woman as other in Israeli cinema / Orly Lubin
Feminism under siege : the vicarious selves of Israeli women writers / Yael S. Feldman

Editorial Reviews

What Betty Friedan did for American women-i.e., she gave them a voice to explain their discontent with the status quo-Fuchs (Judaic studies, Univ. of Arizona; Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative) does for Israeli women with this compilation of essays. Here, a range of social science and humanities scholars examines the lives of Israeli women from religious, political, economic, and cultural perspectives and reveals that, contrary to the popular "myth of equality," Israeli women are victims of discrimination. The book spans Israeli history from the beginning of the feminist Zionist women's movement in 1911 to the current state, where women are conscripted to serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Surprisingly, the IDF is one of the most segregated institutions in Israeli society; it seems that the militaristic society Israel has adopted in order to survive as a country has created a male-oriented culture where women are expected to support the soldiers/men at the expense of their own needs. Discrimination exists elsewhere as well. With Orthodox beliefs influencing the legal realm, religious law now takes precedence over matters of marriage and divorce, and women cannot sign documents, be witnesses, or testify in rabbinical courts. The quality and scope of the essays should make this book a classic on the subject. An optional purchase for public libraries but highly recommended for academic libraries.-Cathy Carpenter, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Esther Fuchs is a superb scholar who has created a must-read for academics and the general public alike. Broad public interest in Israel and the Middle East will certainly make this collection of essays on Israeli women a widely-read and important volume.

Eli Black Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College - Susannah Heschel

A valuable resource for scholars and students of Judaic, Israel, Middle Eastern, and women's studies. There is no single volume currently available that represents such a broad range of historical, political, religious, and cultural approaches to Israeli women. This book will fill that gap for years to come!

editor of Jewish Women in Historical Perspective - Judith R. Baskin

Esther Fuchs is a superb scholar who has created a must-read for academics and the general public alike. Broad public interest in Israel and the Middle East will certainly make this collection of essays on Israeli women a widely-read and important volume.

From the Publisher