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5 The Women's Farm at Kinneret, 1911-19.17: A Solution to the Problem of the Working Woman in the Second Aliyah* --- Margalit Shilo --In 1911 something without precedent was created within the Jewish community in Palestine: a women's farm at Kinneret in the lower Galilee. It was open to women only, since the workers' farms in general were closed to them except for kitchen and domestic duties. It was typical: only Jewish male laborers, for the most part as yet unskilled, worked on the farm at Kinneret. But no one felt that this same privilege should be granted the young female pioneer who came to the land with the same purpose and aspirations as her male counterparts (Meisel, 1967:21). The story of this farm is more than a description of one of the Zionist institutions that developed in the country during the period of the Second Aliyah. It spotlights a grave problem which has received scant attention till now: the problem of the "poelet", the female farm-worker.' What was her goal in life and how did she try to achieve it? How did her male co-workers relate to her? How did the settlement institutions view her, and what solutions did they suggest? A description of the founding and development of this farm sheds light on these questions and presents the main solution to the problem of the female worker of that period. Increase in Women Farm-Workers What was woman's place in the agricultural settlements? During the First Aliyah the settlers came with their wives, who be- *This article first appeared in Hebrew, in Cathedra, No. 14, 1980. The chapter in this volume is a shortened version of the original one. 119 120 Margalit Shilo came housewives in the new settlements. Agricultural matters, however, were generally outside their concern, and during that period we know of few women farm-workers. Furthermore, these farmers did not give their daughters (nor in many instances their sons) an agricultural education. The women and girls of the settlements did not consider themselves to be involved in farming (Smilansky, 1909:11-12; Ettinger, 1919:1). Even the women of Jaffa and Ahuzat Bayit (later Tel Aviv) did not see employment outside the home as a challenge, and rarely went to work. When Sara Thon presented statistics about women's work in Jaffa, she pointed out that Jewish women should be educated and taught that work is not shameful (1910:1063). The tendency to hire outside laborers and to minimize one's own work, which was prevalent during the First Aliyah, was not fertile soil for the growth of women farm-workers. The Zionist Movement granted women full equal rights. Nonetheless , the women created a separate framework for themselves within that movement- the Women's Organization for Cultural Activity in Palestine- which sought Zionist solutions to their special problems. The woman's image in the Zionist Movement was completely traditional; her place was in the home, the school, or the office (Altneuland). Among the dozens of Zionist leaders we find not one woman. Ussishkin's 1905 settlement plan for young men from Eastern Europe made no provision for the immigration of young women, other than those accompanying their husbands or fiances. In theory there was equality, but in practice there was no change in their traditional status or functions. Among the many accomplishments to be credited to the pioneers of the Second Aliyah in their development of the Jewish community in Palestine, the creation of a new female image- the working woman- deserves special note. Only with the arrival of the first young women of the Second Aliyah, women who were no different from their male colleagues in their longing to work the land, did the Jewish community become aware of the phenomenon of the woman farm-worker. In the nature ofthings a young woman had to fight doubly hard to make Aliyah. To leave her home called for twice the effort required by her male counterpart. It is against the background of these obstacles and the even greater difficulties she encountered once she arrived in Palestine, that we note the remarkable fact that almost every one of these girls was of a special calibre, having unusual fighting spirit and unique attributes which alone enabled her to break new ground. The Women's Farm at Kinneret 121 Alongside the men who came for the most part as individuals, young women began to arrive. Their number did not exceed a...

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