Published: 1 March 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
IKEA IS BEING SUED for a form of gender discrimination after it published a special furniture catalogue in Israel that deliberately left out photos of women and girls. The catalogue was created especially for the local ultra-Orthodox community.
As a first step in the legal battle, Jerusalem District Court was asked on Tuesday to approve the multi-million-dollar suit as a class action. The case was filed by Hannah Katsman, a modern Orthodox woman from the central Israeli town of Petah Tikva, and the Israel Religious Action Centre — the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in the country.
After discovering the catalogue in her mailbox, Katsman alerted the centre, a leading advocate in the battle against gender discrimination on religious grounds.
According to Orly Erez-Likhovski, director of the legal department at the centre, this is the first time an international company has faced a class action suit for such discrimination in Israel. The suit was filed against the Israeli division of Ikea and its director, Shuki Koblenz.
FULL STORY Ikea Israel sued for erasing women from catalogue (Haaretz)
RELATED
SHARON BERGER: Losing my religion over the growing invisibility of women
Photo: Image from the catalogue
