Women in Israel: Anthropological, Feminist, and Personal Perspectives

There are diverse and complex problems faced by women in Israel. This book explores women’s roles in teachers’ labor conflicts, threatened motherhood within the welfare system, bureaucratic encounters faced by Ethiopian immigrant women, the lack of political representation amongst women, feminist activism against the sex industry, and gender power dynamics in gyms. It is a comprehensive feminist examination of women’s diverse experiences in Israeli society over four decades and analyzes society during this time. As an ethnography, the book emphasizes a commitment to social justice and equality, and challenges prevailing social and gender research approaches.

Esther Hertzog is head of the department of social behavior sciences at Zefat Academic College. She edited Life, Death and Sacrifice: Women and Family in the Holocaust (Gefen, 2008) co-edited Perspectives on Israeli Anthropology (Wayne State University Press, 2010); Patrons of Women (Berghahn Books, 2011) and many articles and chapters, as well as hundreds of articles in Israeli dailies.