The Status of Women Is Under Attack, and We Are on Watch

My dear friends, WIZO women,

This time, I would like to dedicate my message entirely to the status of women in Israel, and to the growing concern that this field, with all its many hard-won achievements, is now facing a dangerous attack.

Three times over the past month, I wrote about the status of women.

At the beginning of the month, I condemned protesters outside the Prime Minister’s residence who used sexist and violent chants against the Prime Minister’s wife. Later in the month, I spoke out against the outrageous law that was finally approved by the Knesset, encouraging gender-segregated academic studies even in master’s and doctoral degree programs.

But the most troubling case came at the end of the month, when I spoke out against the decision by the leadership of the city of Bnei Brak to divide, for the first time in Israel, two streets in the city into two separate sides: one for men and one for women.

Together with the use of female soldiers as an excuse for entire sectors to avoid military service, these issues are becoming increasingly present and influential in Israeli public discourse. They place the full and equal partnership between women and men up for debate.

The first incident could perhaps be dismissed as a spontaneous act by a handful of lawbreakers who lost control. The second could be explained, at least by some, as encouraging the integration of ultra-Orthodox men and women into academia.

But the third case leaves no room for excuses or leniency. It exposes the truth clearly: we are facing an ongoing and deliberate attempt by religious fanaticism to take control of the civil agenda, while pushing women to the margins with an extremism more suited to Iran or Pakistan.

There was once a time in Israel when rabbis preached openness, unity, and bringing people closer together. They recognized modernization and a changing world.

But it seems that as the weight of the ultra-Orthodox public in Israel grows, the leadership of that community is abandoning the idea of building bridges. In place of a moderate line, we are seeing an inciting, defiant, provocative line that preaches darkness and primitivism.

Where is modern rabbinic leadership taking the natural partnership between men and women, a partnership that, from the creation of the world, was meant to create wholeness within humanity?

How did we move, in the name of religion, from equal partners created together to share the world, to the division of streets, military units, and classrooms between men and women?

Where does this religious extremism come from, this rejection of every value of openness and acceptance? And why, instead of softening with the years, does religion appear only to grow more extreme?

The decision by the city of Bnei Brak to create gender-segregated streets is not a media gimmick. This is truly the world they want to live in: a world in which women are pushed back into second-class status, weakened and excluded, needing male approval in order to study, earn a living, and now even cross the street.

We, who fight to advance the status of women, must not abandon the “defensive game” either. We are facing ongoing attempts to push us backwards, block our way, distance us, minimize us, and reduce our place in the public sphere.

If you had told me that in 2026 there was a city somewhere in the world where certain streets were forbidden to women, I would have been surprised.

But if you had told me that this city borders my own city of Tel Aviv, then there is real cause for concern.

Because the speed of light is the same as the speed of darkness, and the exclusion of women in one city is a direct and wild attack on the women of the neighboring city as well.

The Judaism of Bnei Brak’s leadership is not my Judaism. It is not the Judaism of the State of Israel I know, and it is not the Judaism of the Zionism that shaped the State of Israel.

A Judaism that blocks women from the street has no place in our world.

We must stand guard in order to preserve the achievements of the past, create new achievements, and above all prevent harm, in the name of religious fanaticism, to the status of women in Israel.

Our Division for the Advancement of the Status of Women, led by Rivka Neumann, and our advocacy team, led by spokesperson Michal Orly, are alert and prepared for every incident that requires our response.

We will not always succeed. Our strength is limited, and the forces facing us are far stronger. But our voice will be heard, our truth will echo, and in the end, reason and justice will prevail.

With deep thanks and appreciation to all of you,

Anita Friedman
World WIZO Chairperson