Between the Flag and the Banner: Women in Israeli Politics

3. Women's Associations and Movements

CHAPTER 3 Women's Associations and Movements Women's associations have been at the forefront of the struggle for women's equality in Israel, invariably confronting the wellknown dilemma between national goals and gender objectives. Some women groups have ignored it, arguing that working toward the implementation of collective ends is not incompatible with liberating women; other groups, however, have made a clear-cut decision to favor one target over the other. Some associations have chosen to act from within. By selecting the socalled "internal path," they have allied themselves with political parties and other established groups and have been ardent proponents of collective values. Others have chosen to act from without, by mobilizing the women's constituency and forming grassroots organizations that have challenged the existing political and social order, treating it as the main culprit for women's inequality. This dual approach, while not unique to Israel, has been influenced by the particular historical, cultural, and political characteristics of the country. Women's associations have made their presence felt since the early days of the Jewish settlement in Palestine. They have mobilized broad constituencies, increased public awareness of women's plight, and influenced public policy on women (discussed in chapters 6-8). But their activity has been steadily overshadowed by their vacillation between the flag and the banner-affiliation and autonomy. This chapter will describe the development of the women's 57 58 Between the Flag and the Banner movements from the pre-state era to the present, focusing on their internal resources as well as their mutual relationships. The Pre-State Era Women's movements were interwoven into the effort of national revival pursued by the Zionist movement in mandatory Palestine . Disregarding women's groups operating within political parties, such as Emuna, two women's associations dominated the scene: the Women Workers' Movement (WWM) and Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO). More than any other organization in the country, Naamat (the Hebrew name of the WWM since 1976) has successfully coped with its two-pronged role: being a branch of the labor movement and being a leading women's movement in the country . The WWM developed within the Labor Zionist movement in reaction to the disappointment of a small group of women with the limited role they were assigned in the emerging society (Izraeli 1992). As members of socialist parties in their country of origin, pioneering women shared with their male co-workers ideas of social justice and human liberty; as Zionists they endorsed national redemption in the old-new homeland. Women assimilated the collective goals of the settlers in pre-state Israel; yet they were also aware of their unique needs. In her seminal book on women workers in the Yishuv (the pre-state Jewish settlement in Palestine), Bernstein (1987a, 24) describes the firstever exclusive meeting of women in pre-state Israel which took place in Kinnereth in 1911. At the meeting, closed to men, the women complained about their confinement to kitchen and service work and about the general indifference to their predicament . They unanimously concluded that the only solution lay in autonomous political and economic activity. To this effect, the first agricultural training camp was opened, with the purpose of expanding the number of women engaged in "productive " occupations. Political organization followed, as women increasingly realized that their goals could not be won through the existing structures of the Labor Zionist movement. In 1914 the organizational arm of the women's movement was created.1 Women's Associations and Movements 59 Following the establishment of the Histadrut in 1921, an affiliated Women's Workers Movement was organized. This body was not officially represented at the founding convention, because representation was based on political party membership, and the women viewed their association as nonpartisan (Swirski 1991a, 287). However, realizing their vulnerability in political parties women demanded, and were granted, official representation on the Histadrut council (Izraeli 1981, 103). Adhering to the socialist ideology, women suffered under the pressing circumstances of the time. Contending with immediate physical and economic needs in a poverty-stricken, barren land left little time for feminist activity. Yet these women were deeply concerned with problems that today may be termed "feminist": the perception of women as an oppressed group, the creation of all-female organizations, and the establishment of alternative institutions (Swirski 1991a, 285). From the start, the WWM faced four vital issues, namely, the nature of the desired social change, the program of action, the appropriate form of organization, and...