Israel
- Thrive
- Apr 15, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 1, 2023
Population size and demographic: 9 million. 50.19% of the population is female and 49.81% is male.
Women at Work:
The female labour force participation in Israel in 69.1%, slightly lower than that of men, 76%. Only 34.2% of all legislators, senior officials and managers are women and about 56.3% of all professional and technical workers are women (1). The rate of unemployment for women is 4.06% of the female labour force. About 23.1% of all board members of listed companies are women, but only 3.1% of firms have a female majority ownership and 10.1% of all firms have a female top manager. About 40.63% of employed women work part-time in Israel (1).
Women’s Participation in Parliament:
When it comes to political empowerment, Israel ranks 64 out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report of 2020 (1). Women gained the right to vote and stand for election in 1948 in Iran. Women hold 24.17% of the seats in Parliament in Israel, which means that 29 out of the 120 members are women (2). The youngest member of parliament is a woman, 32-year-old Shirley Pinto Kadosh. The first woman in parliament was elected in 1949 and in 2006, the first woman speaker was elected. There is an informal specialized body for women’s rights in Israel, the Caucus for Combatting the Trafficking of Women and Prostitution (2). Women make up 19% of all those employed in ministerial positions (1).
Violence against Women:
There is limited data when it comes to gender-based violence in Israel. Femicide, the murder of women, is a concern in Israel, with 16 femicide deaths happening in 2021, a lower number than the 21 deaths of the previous year. In six of these cases the killer was the woman’s partner, in four cases they were murdered by their sons and in two cases by their brothers. The youngest victim of femicide in 2021 was 27 years old and the oldest was 76, and the average age of the victims was 45.6 years. One third of the women were shot, one third strangled, 25% stabbed and 13% were killed by other means. In one third of the cases, domestic abuse complaints had been filed by the victims. Of all the cases, 8 were considered honour killings (3). There is no data on child marriage in Israel but the minimum legal age for marriage is 18, with marriage under 16 being legal with permission from the Family Courts (4). Over 200,000 women are victims of domestic abuse every year in Israel. In the first 8 months of 2022, 492 women had sought shelter against domestic abuse (5). In 2020 the police had 20,326 cases of domestic violence reported, in 87% of those cases the victim was a woman (5).
Health:
When it comes to health and survival, Israel ranks 97 out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report of 2020. The healthy life expectancy for women in Israel is 74.1 years. Maternal mortality stands at 3 deaths per 100,000 live births (1). The adolescent fertility rate is 8 per every 1000 girls aged 15 to 19 in 2020. (6)
Education:
When it comes to educational attainment, the literacy rate for women is 88.67% and 94.96% for men in 1983. In 2020, enrolment in secondary education had a rate of 100% for girls and 98% for boys. This rate dropped to 56.2% for women and 43.9% for men when it comes to tertiary education. (1)
Current Law and Policy:
Domestic abuse is forbidden by law and is a criminal offence. Legal aid is provided to both parties to resolve a domestic abuse case through the court system with equal representation (Regulation 5(1) Legal Aid Regulations 5733 – 1973). The aid is provided to each of the family members without discrimination on the basis of age or sex.
There are two main legal protections available. Firstly, the Protective Order, which allows for the removal of a violent member of the family. The Order can be made by the Family Affairs Court or by the local magistrates court. It does not require the payment of a court fee. If the judge is of the opinion that the issue of a protective order is justified, a preliminary protective order shall be granted for a few days only. In his decision the judge will set a date for an additional hearing in the presence of both parties, in order to let the other party have the opportunity of defending himself. A Protective Order can be applied for by a very broad range of people. They simply have to be a family member, it is not limited to the spouse only. The court can remove the violent person for up to three months. It can be extended up to a year. (7)
Secondly, a Threatening Harassment Restraining Order is available pursuant to the Prevention of Threatening Harassment Law, 5762 – 2001. This requires a person to abstain from an act or series of acts. This could include stopping and contact, keeping a certain distance in a residential space or place of work, or to stop carrying arms.
Frontline Services:
· Itach Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice - http://www.itach.org.il/?lang=en - mail@itach.org.il
· The Israel Women’s Network - https://iwn.org.il/english/about-the-israel-womens-network/ - admin@iwn.org.il
· The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel - https://www.1202.org.il/en/ ; https://www.1202.org.il/en/contact-us
· Women's Spirit (Ruach Nashit) - https://www.ruach-nashit.org.il/english - office@ruach-nashit.org.il
· Ma'avarim (For the Transgender Community) - https://www.maavarim.org/english-home ; https://awiderbridge.org/israeli-organizations/ - info@maavarim.org
Sources
(4) https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/learning-resources/child-marriage-atlas/regions-and-countries/israel/
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