Israel

The status of women in the state of Israel has been predisposed primarily by liberal and socialist ideologies of the Zionist movement; respectively, Israel's declaration of independence (May 14, 1948) conveys that the state of Israel “will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.” Yet, in Israel, during the first decade of the 21st century, one can still identify many areas in which women cannot yet enjoy full impartiality and ultimate equality.

The Israeli central Bureau of Statistics, 2007, indicates that women comprise 50.6 percent of Israel's population, meaning that for every 102.4 women there are 100 men, whereas in the world at large that ratio is inverted. Israeli women have the highest average number of children in the Western world. The Israeli average is 2.9 compared to two children in the United States. The Israeli central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, reports that the average life expectancy for women is 83 years compared to 79.1 years for men.

A report on the status of women in Israel in 2004, presented by the Israel Women's Network to the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, points out that the average marrying age for Jewish women is 24.5, and for Muslim women 20.5. In Europe, on the other hand, the average marrying age for women is 27.

Of mothers in Israel, some 97,000 are single parents, and 64 percent of them are Jewish. Single mothers head 10 percent of families in Israel compared to 17 percent in other Western countries.

Violence Against Women

Transcript

• Now, there is for many of us a clear goal: two states for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security, with peace between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon, and normal relations between Israel and all the Arab states; a comprehensive peace, that is real, not a slogan, that is rooted in genuine recognition of Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, and that offers the best way to ensure Israel’s enduring survival and wellbeing. That is the goal that the Obama administration is determined to help Israel and the Palestinians achieve.

In Israel, as in many other countries, it is difficult to estimate exactly the scope of violence against women, especially owing to the fact that many women are still reluctant to report violent incidents due to fear, shame, and sense of helplessness. Yet, according to police estimates, in 2008, 12,777 police files were opened due to women's complaints about familial violence directed against them, an increase of 5 percent compared with data for 2007.

In recent years, minimum punishment was legislated for sex offenders and perpetrators of domestic violence. In 1991, the Domestic Violence Prevention Law was enacted, empowering family courts to issue protective orders against violent spouses. In 1998, Israel adopted a comprehensive Sexual Harassment Prevention Law, which defines sexual harassment, makes it a criminal offense, and also cause for a civil suit against the perpetrator and his employer.