THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Israeli Feminists Record Gains
By REENA SIGMAN
FRIEDMAN
(Copyright 1978, JTA, Inc.)
A prominent leader of the
Israel Feminist Movement
spoke out against what she
believes to be the funda-
mentally unequal position
of women in Israeli society.
Surveying the growth of the
feminist movement in her
country, she observed that
although much progress has
been made in recent years,
many obstacles remain to be
overcome.
Joanne Yaron, coor-
dinator of the Public Rlea-
tions Committee for the Tel
Aviv Section of the Israel
Feminist Movement, made
her remarks in a special in-
terview in New York. She is
also a member of the Tel
Aviv Women's Center Rape
Crisis Committee and
serves as international
liaison for the movement.
She observed that, within
the last five years, the
movement, which now
numbers some 1,000 active
members, has gained rec-
ognition in the press and
has significantly influenced
public opinion.
Ms. Yaron attributed
the recent rise in popular
respect for the feminist
movement to its espousal
of a number of humanita-
rian social issues which
are of concern to the
population as a whole. In
the last few years,
feminist programs on be-
half of rape victims, bat-
tered wives and mater-
nity patients have, in Ms.
Yaron's words, "made us
acceptable to the run-of-
the-mill person in Israeli
society. They can identify
us as Good Samaritans,
working for a good
cause."
The Tel Aviv Israel
Feminist Center, with
Race Will Aid
Olympic Team
Playboy magazine and
Detroit radio station
WWWW will sponsor a
5,000-meter "Run for the
Money" 8:30 a.m. Sunday to
help raise money for the
U.S. Olympic team.
The race will start be-
tween the athletic fields and
the Coast Guard station on
Belle Isle. Runners can pick
up their numbers after 6
a.m. on race dax. The race,
sanctioned by the A.A.U., is
open to everyone. The Motor
City Striders running club
will officiate.
Winners will receive spe-
cial Playboy/ WWWW
medallions.
A "Run for the Money"
running shirt will be given
to each of the first 1,000 race
entrants.
Teens to-Dance
at Beth Shalom
Beth Shalom USY will
host a "Boogie-on-Down"
dance for teens in grades
9-12 9:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the
synagogue.
There is a charge. For in-
formation, call Darryl Leff,
544-0175, or Terry
Schwartz, 681-7504.
which Ms. Yaron is actively
involved, operates a 24-
hour Rape Crisis Hot Line,
staffed by women volun-
teers. Feminist leaders in
Tel Aviv have been working
closely with police, medical
personnel and law enforce-
ment officials to change
public attitudes about rape,
ensure more -Severe pro-
secution of rapists and pro-
' vide more sensitive care for
victims.
Ms. Yaron also disclosed
that wife abuse has
emerged as a public issue in
Israel only within the last
few years. Since it has be-
come known that there are
some 30,000 to 50,000 in-
stances of wife-beating in
Israel each year, a number
of "Battered Women's Shel-
ters" have been established
by feminist groups, the
largest of which is in Haifa.
A third major area of con-
cern has been, according to
Yaron, the treatment of
maternity patients in the
Beersheba Siroka Hospital
which caters primarily to
Bedouin women and Jews
from Arab lands. One recent
study revealed that the care
provided these patients was
anything but sympathetic
and, in many cases, quite
degrading. Leaders of the
feminist movement in the
Negev publicized the situa-
tion and steps have been
taken to improve hospital
conditions.
The Israel Feminist
Movement has made
great strides in recent
years and has embarked
upon cooperative pro-
jects with Na'amat, WIZO
and other non-feminist
women's organizations,
political and apolitical.
tion Five of the present law,
which enables married
women to obtain an abor-
tion on the basis of limited
financial resources. Rep-
resentatives of the various
religious groups are at-
tempting to eliminate this
section, a move which, in
Ms. Yaron's view, would
discriminate against poor
women seeking an abortion.
With respect to the
mobilization question,
Ms. Yaron praised the ef-
forts of a group of Israeli
high school girls working
independently of the
feminist movement, to
gain passage of a more
stringent law regulating
the drafting of young
women into the army.
Based upon the proposi-
tion that equal rights must
be accompanied by equal ob-
ligations, the proposed
legislation would stiffen the
criteria for exemptions and
would enforce the existing
National Service Law, re-
quiring girls who do not join
the armed forces to perform
alternative service.
Ms. Yaron said that,
while many Israeli
feminists demand the sep-
aration of church and state
as a means of improving the
condition of Israeli women,
her own inclination is to
work within the established
religious framework. Ex-
pressing her agreement
with the aims of Jewish
feminists in the United
-States, Ms. Yaron praised
the work of Israel's League
for the Rights of Women in
the Rabbinic Courts, which
seeks to achieve its objec-
tives through loopholes in
the Halakha (religious law).
"Eretz Yisrael is not
something apart from the
soul of the Jewish people; it
is no mere national posses-
sion, serving as a means of
unifying our people and
buttressing its material, or
even its spiritual, survival.
Eretz Yisrael is part of the
very essence of our nation-
hood; it is bound organically
to its very life and inner be-
ing."
—Avraham Yizhak Kook
Personal Financial Planning
Stressing her desire not to
alienate her religiously ob-
servant sisters, Ms. Yaron
said, "I would like very
much to preserve Judaism
in Israel ... I want Israeli
women to be free without
abandoning our historical
tradition. I feel that we can
achieve equality within
Judaism."
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For the first time, in Ms.
Yaron's words, the feminist
movement is "being taken
seriously in the Knesset." In
her view, the two most criti-
cal legislative battles facing
Israeli feminists at the pre-
sent time are those concern-
ing the new national abor-
tion law and the recruit-
ment of girls into the army.
Israel's comparatively
liberal abortion law, which
took effect last February,
has come under attack of
feminists because of its re-
quirement that women de-
siring abortions must re-
ceive permission from a
committee of medical pro-
fessionals. This stipulation,
according to Ms. Yaron and
other feminist teaders, dep-
rives women of the oppor-
tunity to act as "free human
creatures."
The current debate fo-
cuses upon the fate of Sec-
Friday, September 1, 1918 23
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