Halutzah or Beauty Queen?: National Images of Women in Early Israeli Society

Scholars have argued that there were women who immigrated to Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) in order to find gender equality. The image of the emancipated Halutzah, the female proletarian and field worker, was broadly publicized. From 1948 on, the socialist Women’s Workers Movement and its image of the Halutzah continued to influence Israeli society. They admired hard-working women who sacrificed their bodies for the national collective—in the media, their lives and sacrifices were celebrated and glorified through the act of remembering. Shortly after the state was formed, beauty pageants began to take place and expressed values in sharp contrast with the Halutzah. The women’s magazine Laisha (For the Woman) started the selection of the Israeli Beauty Queen in 1950 and created a public arena for the adoration of the beautiful female body. During young Israel’s struggle in forming a unified nation, both constructs competed for the ideal image of the Israeli woman—one in creating a heroic past, the other in drawing a picture of a glamorous future. This paper explores the dynamics behind gendered national images and evaluates patterns of persistence and/or change.