Fighting the Patriarchy Israel’s Equality Problem

The bigger issue is how women are treated as second-class citizens

This past week, there’s been a lot of talk and protest in Israel about rights. For six days, Israelis have taken to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv over what they perceive as injustices by their government. But that’s not Israel’s only problem. There’s an imbalance of rights every day that Israelis perpetuate and even advocate. Social, economic, or religious issues, deeply rooted in societal norms, do not provoke protests. Nothing speaks to this struggle more than the inequality between the sexes and the reality that “sexism still persists today.”

Ironically, the latest article on the topic of women and inequality in the Middle East—including Israel—was written by a man. Nathan Klabin, writing for The Media Line, authored the piece, “War and domestic strife worsen gender disparities for Middle Eastern women.” Klabin argues, “With eroding gender equality, women are facing financial hardship, increased caregiving burdens, and diminished leadership roles in Israel and Egypt.”

Klabin spoke with Tali Nir, CEO of the NGO 121, Engine for Social Change, who claims, “Israeli women have suffered significant setbacks over the past year.” She elaborated, “We are seeing a decline in women’s status across multiple sectors. Women are bearing the brunt of the war—economically, socially, and in decision-making spaces. This isn’t just about representation. It directly affects decision-making. Excluding women from leadership simply deprives policies that address their needs—especially in times of crisis—of priority.

Legal scholar Frances Raday’s analysis, “Equality, Religion, and Gender in Israel,” in The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, offers a detailed look at the complex relationship between secular gender equality and deeply rooted patriarchal religious norms in Israel. Initially, Israel’s Declaration of Independence and the subsequent Women’s Equal Rights Law aimed explicitly to institutionalize gender equality.

Early efforts to push gender equality in Israel struggled to gain real legal power due to strong opposition from religious political groups, particularly in personal matters like marriage and divorce, still governed by religious courts under a system inherited from the Ottoman Empire and British rule.

Despite this, Israel’s Supreme Court has played a key role in promoting gender equality by interpreting existing laws—especially the 1992 Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty—as protecting women’s rights. This has led to major advancements in public life, including legal protections against sexual harassment, support for working mothers, and efforts toward equal opportunity in the workplace, military, and politics.

However, the Court has exercised caution by avoiding direct challenges to religious laws on gender issues, thereby highlighting the ongoing struggle between legal reform and religious tradition. Since the late 1980s, new laws supporting women’s rights—like equal pay, workplace protections, affirmative action, and reproductive rights—have been passed. Still, religious influence continues to constrain these advances.

Raday notes that while Israel has made progress, it still lags behind European standards in areas like parental leave, women’s political representation, and overall family support. She concludes that the country remains caught between modern, secular equality and traditional religious values—an ongoing clash reflecting Israel’s broader identity crisis.

Historically, the vision of gender equality in Israeli history is more myth than reality. While women worked on kibbutzim and served in the army, it was often in traditional female roles without true equality. Any appearance of rights granted to women only served to reinforce their dual role as both workers and traditional wives and mothers, with limited opportunities for advancement compared to men.

Even the early symbol of equality, Prime Minister Golda Meir—the third female national leader in modern history—was more illusion than reality. As her biographer Letty Cottin Pogrebin wrote, “She was in current parlance a ‘queen bee,’ a woman who climbs to the top, then pulls the ladder up behind her. She did not wield the prerogatives of power to address women’s special needs, to promote other women, or to advance women’s status in the public sphere. The fact is, at the end of her tenure, her Israeli sisters were no better off than they had been before she took office.” There has not been another female prime minister since, and with the current right-wing and ultra-Orthodox political dominance, that seems unlikely in the foreseeable future.

As of 2019, women made up 50.26% of Israel’s population. Although Israel has no formal constitution, its 1948 Declaration of Independence promises equal social and political rights regardless of religion, race, or sex. Israeli law bans gender discrimination in employment and wages and allows class-action lawsuits. However, reality does not reflect the law. Wage gaps continue to exist, and they represent just the beginning of gender inequality.

In a 2012 survey of 59 developed countries, Israel ranked 11th for women’s workforce participation but only 24th in the number of women in executive roles. Over a decade later, in 2025, women remain underrepresented in both government and private-sector leadership. Only 6 out of 32 ministers are women, none in key positions. The Knesset has 30 female members—25% of the 120 seats—down from a record high of 35 in the previous term. The private sector mirrors this imbalance, with few women in executive roles.

Legal scholar Ruth Halperin-Kaddari argued in her book Women in Israel: A State of Their Own that there is a substantial gap in Israel between “law and cultural practice.” Elana Sztokman points out that Halperin-Kaddari addresses the issue of legislative change without accompanying cultural transformation. Halperin-Kaddari writes, “History shows, however, that this promise has been broken in the case of women, who generally live under circumstances significantly worse than those of men.” Her 2004 book was “the first comprehensive overview of discrimination in a state dominated by a patriarchal religious order and brings fresh insights into the efficacy of the law in improving the status of women.”

Dr. Elana Sztokman, one of Israel’s leading scholars on women and equality, writes a Substack blog titled “The Roar” and has authored several books, including The War on Women in Israel: A Story of Religious Radicalism and the Women Fighting for Freedom. Sztokman has been outspoken, both academically and publicly, about the blatant sexism and misogyny in Israel.

In 2024, Sztokman highlighted the troubling trends:

• “Israel currently ranks 83rd in the world in gender representation in politics, a number that has been going down—in fact, it went down 23 points in just one year.”
• Fewer than 26% of Knesset members are women, and “the few female cabinet members are often more vehemently anti-feminist and homophobic than their male peers,” reflecting the problem of women holding back other women.
• Religious party policies legally allow the exclusion of women from electoral lists. Coalition agreements have legalized gender segregation and removed women from public spaces, with some violations punishable by up to seven years in prison. Even the Shas party proposed a bill that would imprison a woman for seven years for dressing “immodestly” in certain public areas.
• Women hold only 6% of mayoral and regional council head positions.
• National leadership includes:

• 0 women on the security cabinet.
• 0 women in ceasefire negotiations.
• 0 women with official responsibility for hostages.

• The Israel Democracy Institute confirms the significant decline in women’s representation, echoing the World Economic Forum’s rankings.
• “Women also have terribly low representation in business leadership, in numbers of CEOs, on boards, and in leading government companies.”

Back in 2023, during mass protests against judicial reform, Israeli feminist groups warned that the far-right’s proposed overhaul would empower state-run rabbinic courts and undo decades of progress on women’s rights. Women took to the streets in red gowns inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale, both the book by Margaret Atwood and the Netflix adaptation.
Previously restricted to religious issues like divorce and conversion, rabbinic courts would have gained authority over civil cases—equating them with secular courts for the first time in 15 years. The reform passed a preliminary Knesset vote in February 2023, backed by ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism—both of which have no female representatives.

Critics argue the halachic legal system is inherently patriarchal. The halachic legal system forbids women from serving as judges and often treats female witnesses unequally. Religious divorce remains a major issue, with women struggling to obtain a get (religious divorce) without their husband’s consent. Feminist lawyers caution against forcing ultra-Orthodox women into settlements that deprive them of their rights.

Dr. Susan Weiss, founder of the Center for Women’s Justice, warned that even if women were allowed to serve as judges, the rabbinic system itself would remain patriarchal. “I’m sure they’ll make a compromise on the backs of women,” she said, fearing women’s rights would be sacrificed to appease religious coalition partners.

Although Prime Minister Netanyahu temporarily froze the broader judicial overhaul in March 2023 after massive protests, two years later, as new demonstrations arose, the reform bill passed the Constitution Committee and awaits a final vote.

The October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks shifted focus away from feminism. Calls for the release of hostages overtook the fight for gender equality. While the sexual violence of that day has been acknowledged, budget cuts have severely affected women’s economic and social mobility, slashing training and early childhood education programs. Nir told The Media Line, “This is an invisible crisis. Many women are leaving the workforce or struggling to advance because they simply don’t have the support they need.” The closure of the Ministry for the Advancement of Women’s Status and its replacement with a weaker Authority for the Advancement of Women only worsened the situation.

The broader issue is the systemic exclusion of women from power and public life—a trend that’s not only worsening but intertwined with national crises like war and hostage negotiations. Simply put, being a woman in Israel is a disadvantage. When discrimination is systemic and accepted, a feminist woman—especially one with ambition—can’t win. Sztokman argues that the solution requires “not just a change in government, but a change in culture.” She believes, “We need to be able to talk about gender and the many ways that gender norms are entrenched in Israel, and how patriarchal ideas inform everything about our country. Our economy, our discourse, our politics, our structures, our families, our communities—and not the least of all, the way this conflict is being handled.”

While Western countries like the United States and Canada may offer more gender equality on paper and in practice, rising antisemitism cuts off opportunities for outspoken Jewish or pro-Israel women. It’s a catch-22 of inequality and antisemitism. Just as community leaders encourage people to speak out against antisemitism, Israeli women must not be silenced. There must be a resurgence of the #MeToo movement—this time documenting every moment they are denied career or social advancement due to systemic misogyny. These protests must include the fight for equality, because a just country is not possible without it.

The broader issue is the systemic exclusion of women from power and public life—a trend that’s not only worsening but intertwined with national crises like war and hostage negotiations. Simply put, being a woman in Israel is a disadvantage. When discrimination is systemic and accepted, a feminist woman—especially one with ambition—can’t win.

Sztokman argues that the solution requires “not just a change in government, but a change in culture.” She believes, “We need to be able to talk about gender and the many ways that gender norms are entrenched in Israel and how patriarchal ideas inform everything about our country. Our economy, our discourse, our politics, our structures, our families, our communities—and not the least of all, the way this conflict is being handled.”

While Western countries like the United States and Canada may offer more gender equality on paper and in practice, rising antisemitism cuts off opportunities for outspoken Jewish or pro-Israel women. It’s a catch-22 of inequality and antisemitism. Community leaders should not silence Israeli women, just as they encourage others to speak out against antisemitism. A resurgence of the #MeToo movement is necessary, with a focus on documenting every instance where systemic misogyny denies them career or social advancement. These protests must include the fight for equality, because a just country is not possible without it.

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Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS, is a journalist, historian, librarian, and artist. She is a graduate of McGill University and has done graduate work in Judaic Studies at Concordia University and Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of the recently released “On This Day in History…: Significant Events in the American Year” and “A Constant Battle: McGill University’s Complicated History of Antisemitism and Now Anti-Zionism.” She is the former Features Editor at the History News Network and a reporter at Examiner.com, where she covered politics, universities, religion, and news. Her writing has appeared in the Times of Israel Blogs, the Jerusalem Post, the Jerusalem Report, and the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS). Her scholarly articles can be found on Academia.edu.