Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-State Israel

11. On the Way to Equality? The Struggle for Women's Suffrage in the Jewish Yishuv, 1917-1926

11 On the Way to Equality? The Struggle for Women's Suffrage in the Jewish Yishuv, 1917-1926 ---Sylvie Fogiel-Bijaoui --The issue of Women's Suffrage in the Jewish settlement of Palestine , the Yishuv, has not been considered in the literature dealing with the history of the community (Horowitz and Lissak, 1977; Shapiro, 1978; Eisenstadt, 1967).1 It is no wonder, therefore, that the prevalent view is that "women did not have to put up any form of struggle in order to obtain suffrage" in the Yishuv, or that the proponents of women's suffrage (men and women alike) only had to contend with the ultra-orthodox religious sectors (the Haredim), which they did successfully and with no particular difficulties (Goldberg , 1982:29-30).2 But when one studies the history of the Yishuv more closely, it becomes clear that the "controversy over women's suffrage" was one of the main political concerns of the community for eight years, from 1918 to 1926. "The controversy illuminates most of all the opposition between the Old and the New Yishuv, between a society rooted in Jewish tradition and a society wishing to model its life on modern Western ideas, on social justice, on democracy and on equality of the sexes" (Friedman, 1977:146). It was in the context of this controversy that a women's movement was formed under the leadership of the roof organization, "The Association of Hebrew Women for Equal Rights in Eretz Israel ", and scored one of the most notable victories of women in the history of the Yishuv: they obtained the right to vote and to be elected. The women's movement was composed of women from all sectors of the highly bifurcated Jewish society. There were women from the center and right wing sectors, known as the civic sectors (or in Hebrew, the Hugim Ezrahi'im), and there were the women workers. The former were organized in the Association of Women for Equal Rights and in additional organizations such as the Feder261 262 Sylvie Fogiel-Bijaoui ation of Hebrew Women, while the women workers were organized in the Women Workers' Movement. As will be shown, the women's organizations of the civic sectors were the dominant and leading force in this struggle. The central question of the present article relates to the factors which made the achievement of the vote possible within a relatively short time. How can one account for the fact that after having been categorically denied suffrage in the Assembly at Zikhron Yaakov (1903), Jewish women in Palestine did vote and were elected in 1920? How did it happen that the second Elected Assembly promulgated full civil, legal and political equality for women in its first session in January 1926? In order to answer this question we will focus on the actions and struggles of the women's movement organized at that time. Like every other social movement, it was a general framework for various protest groups, pressure groups, voluntary organizations and political parties. It aspired to take part in the process of social transformation, to help in shaping the new social order established by the Zionist enterprise, and to obtain suffrage for women (on the subject of social movements see Freeman, 1983; Touraine, 1971; Zald and McCarthy, 1987). The present study is divided into three sections: 1. In the first part, "Between Democracy and Theocracy", we will present the historical developments from the viewpoint of the women's movement. 2. In the second part, "The Power of Women: The Politization of the Status of the Woman", we will examine the source of women's power and discuss the predominant wing of the women's movement , the organizations affiliated with the center and right civic sectors, in relation to the weaker left wing, the Women Workers' Movement (WWM). 3. In the third part, "A Limited Victory", we will draw conclusions and examine the significance of the achievement for women in the Yishuv in Palestine. Between Democracy and Theocracy: The Struggle for Women's Suffrage The struggle for women's suffrage in the Yishuv can be divided into three phases according to the development of the On the Way to Equality? 263 women's movement until its final victory: 1. 1917-1919; 2. 19191920 ;3. 1920-1926. 1. 1917-1919 One of the necessary, (but not sufficient), conditions for the formation of a social movement is a "constructive crisis" which affects a group of people who have hitherto not translated their common views and...