Between the Flag and the Banner: Women in Israeli Politics

7. Family Policy: Patriarchy in the Jewish State

CHAPTER 7 Family Policy: Patriarchy in the Jewish State In March 1993 a spokeswoman for Naamat stated, at a widely publicized press conference, that the theme chosen for that year's Women's Status Month, was "Family Values."l The slogan amply illustrated the centrality of family in organized women's activity in the country. "The family means something special to me," exclaimed the spokeswoman. The theme, she explained, was in line with the UN International Year of the Family. The Israeli scene provided extremely fertile soil for accentuating the subject. The family is both the woman's province and her prison. There she can fulfill herself, be appreciated for what she does, and find herself a proper place in society. In her family, the woman is queen and ruler (unless she is subject to violence, which is often the case). In the realm of her family the woman can express her feminine attributes: she can be warm and sensitive , sentimental and caring. In short, she can be her real self, or to put it more accurately, she can fit the image portrayed of her from time immemorial. The family is also her prison, distancing and removing her from the outside world, confining her to the private domain. By virtue of her family affiliation, the woman is fettered to her domestic responsibilities and is denied the opportunities available to men in the public domain. By fulfilling her family duties, the Israeli woman, however, can subscribe to the national goals and show her allegiance to the 177 178 Between the Flag and the Banner flag. This chapter will show that in Israel the state has consolidated the linkage between women and the family. Some legal provisions, mainly those regarding personal matters, have been unfavorable to women's status. On other issues, for example, economic relations in the family and the protection of women against violence, the state has shown more favor to gender equality. Centrality of Family in Israeli Life The centrality of family in social life has been acknowledged by many political theorists from the early Greek period to the present and has been embodied in many legal documents. Good examples are the Canadian Charter of Rights, the Italian Constitution , the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948), the European Charter on Human Rights (1950), and the International Charter on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966). Many states have framed specific constitutional clauses regulating the family and its internal relations. In Switzerland, for example, a particular constitutional provision governs family names, requiring a wife to carry her husband's surname. Until several years ago the Swiss law determined that the division of labor within the family obliges women to be responsible for housekeeping (Senti 1992). The Constitution of the Republic of Ireland provides another example of state interference in family affairs. According to Irish law, a woman's place is in her home, and only there. Only rarely does the state forego its interest in the family and leave the individual leeway to organize his or her life as he or she see fit. Why have states troubled to go into such details regarding what is considered the private domain? The answer to this question is grounded in the important role families play in sociallife . The state has customarily shown a great interest in the family, perceiving it as a bulwark of social and political stability. As Randall (1987, 203) has put it: "The family has an important socializing function, transmitting, if not attitudes of positive support for the existing regime, at least a tendency to accept authority and to adhere conservatively to the way things are as Family Policy: Patriarchy in the Jewish State 179 normal." A stable family system also helps to ensure that children , the elderly, the sick and the handicapped are cared for, relieving the state of its commitments. The answer lies also in the perception of the family as a reproductive unit whose integrity and well-being are crucial for ensuring a nation's future. Whether the state encourages a higher birth rate or wishes to reduce fertility, whether it aims at economic growth or at economic restraint, the key to achieving these goals, conceivably, is with the family. The political salience of the family, however, has not been reflected in the history of political thought. In fact, family was not regarded as falling within the political realm at all. Family was considered to be women's private domain, remote from the public world of men...