Exclusion of women from public life can’t be tolerated

RACHEL AZARIA: The push to exclude women from the public sphere in Israel, driven by conservative religious forces, must be confronted head-on

Equality for women is a revolutionary idea that defines a watershed divide between liberal and conservative positions. It is one of the values that all liberals can agree on. As a result, when it comes to social change in Israel, and surely in the struggle between religion and state, the issue of gender equity is a change agent, where women are at the forefront.

In recent years, one of the most challenging struggles for social change in Israel has been the exclusion of women. This battle encompasses the tension between pluralism and conservative values, between the Jewish and democratic character of Israel. Therefore, it remains a flagship of the struggles for social change.

I was exposed to this issue 12 years ago during my campaign for election to Jerusalem’s City Council. Like all candidates, my party wanted to publicise photos of our candidates in banners posted on buses. To our surprise, we discovered the banners could not include photographs of women.

I couldn’t believe this could happen in Israel. My party decided to bring the story to the attention of the media and then, with the help of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), to appeal to the Supreme Court. During the court hearings the judges asked the representatives of the bus company why they would not post my picture. The representatives said they feared the buses would be vandalized or set on fire.

The judges ruled that a bus company must not make decisions that impact on the character of Jerusalem’s public sphere. If there was a danger to the buses, the police should take action.  My pictures went on the buses and we felt victorious. On the same day of the court decision, I was elected to the City Council of Jerusalem.