Published: 6 September 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
To move towards gender equity in leadership, Jewish bodies must acknowledge and address the unequal responsibility women take in creating Jewish homes, writes ELANA BENJAMIN.
One of the questions for discussion at last week’s Social Justice Summit was why there were so few women in formal leadership positions in the Jewish community. Indeed, most Jewish communal organisations are comprised of mostly male boards, with male CEOs. But we cannot discuss women’s roles in the public sphere without also having conversations about what takes place in the private sphere – in Jewish homes.
Specifically, if I’m going to be the next president of the Jewish Board of Deputies, or a board member of my child’s day school or the Sydney Jewish Museum, then who’s looking after the kids while I’m out in the world? Who's doing the grocery shopping, the cooking, the laundry, the gazillion other jobs that it takes to run a household?
Of course, these questions are not unique to Jewish families. But for Jewish women, the bar is set high because of the central role that women traditionally play in family and cultural life
In Hebrew, a Jewish wife and mother is called akeret habayit, which literally means the “mainstay” of the home; it is the woman who largely determines her entire home’s character and atmosphere. A central part of making a Jewish home is celebrating Shabbat. So, when a Jewish couple discuss the division of labour in their home, there’s another question to ask: who’s going to make Shabbat each week?
Here, I’m not necessarily referring to the strict observance of Shabbat, but to the broader concept of bringing families together every Friday for a meal (although keeping Shabbat involves even more domestic labour).
When I was growing up, my parents, brother and I had dinner together every Friday night. I had Holly Hobbie crockery especially for Shabbat, there was always delicious food (like the shorba Mum made in winter; a hearty Iraqi soup made with chicken, tomato, rice and spices) and Dad used to make me a drink with cherry brandy and lemonade, that I was never allowed during the week.
