Gender

February 10, 2013 - The results of the elections to the 19th Knesset hold a potential for a significant change in the gender thinking of Israel’s legislative body. Out of 120 parliamentarians, 27 women will be serving in the Knesset - the largest number of women MKs since the establishment of the state. What are the necessary conditions for bringing this potential to fruition? Anat Saragusti outlines the gender dimension of the Knesset election results. more»

Women and Power

- January 10, 2012 - On the 11th anniversary of the Security Council’s Resolution 1325, Heinrich Boell Foundation Israel supported the issue of Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture: Women and Power. This issue presents an in-depth analysis of gender perspectives, particularly the impact of the conflict on women and women’s role in peacebuilding. more»

No Women - No Security!

- December 22, 2011 - Process of creating of National Action Plan for implementing the UN Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security, Resolution 1325. more»

The Story of the Implementation of 1325 UN Security Council Resolution in Israel

- October 31, 2011 -

Exactly 11 years ago, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1325 (October 31, 2000). This groundbreaking resolution sent a significant message to many countries,including Israel.  The principles of the decision, which emphasize representation of women in peace negotiations and increased protection of women and children against violence in conflict situations, were found to be very relevant to the Israeli society that has been dealing with a long-term conflict situation over the years.  Adv. Anat Thon Ashkenazi of the NGO Itach-Maaki Women Lawyers for Social Justice - a partner of the Israel office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, describes the efforts of the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Israel to date.

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Working Group's 'No Justification for Polygamy' Campaign Sparks Discourse Nationally

- March 7, 2011 - The Working Group for Equality in Personal Status Issues, a coalition of women's and human rights groups that works to promote the status of Palestinian women citizens of Israel, has just concluded the first round of its campaign against polygamy ─ a project supported by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung Israel office since 2008. Launched through media across the Palestinian minority throughout December 2010, the campaign was geared to publically, and for the first time, broach a critical discussion across the Palestinian minority around the legitimacy of polygamy. Beyond being endemic throughout the Palestinian minority (particularly within the Bedouin population, where polygamous households constitute an estimated 33% of all households), polygamy still enjoys widespread social legitimacy and justification among an even wider section of the Palestinian population.

 

Yotam Keduri Read more about the campaign and download the English summary of the Polygamy study»

Time Will Tell - The Impact of the Katzav Ruling from a Feminist Perspective

- January 21, 2011 - On the morning of December 30, 2010, the transformation of Israeli consciousness reached one of its peaks. That morning, the district court convicted former state president Moshe Katzav of serial sexual violence. After four consecutive years of struggle by women's organizations, after a struggle that began with a dubious glance at the complainants against the serial sex offender from the presidential residence, the head of the judges' panel declared that the man is a rapist and a sexual harasser. Dorit Abramovitch more»

10th Anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325

- November 9, 2010 - On October 31, 2000 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace and Security.” This resolution provides that women be adequately represented on all levels in peace building processes and in the making of security policies.
Ten years after the adoption of UN Resolution 1325, the Gunda Werner Institute (GWI) of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in cooperation with the German Women’s Security Council and Peace Women Across the Globe, hosted an international conference in Berlin to examine the implementation of the resolution.
Anat Saragusti, a board member of Itach-Maaki - Women Lawyers for social Justice, supported in its 1325 implementation efforts by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung Israel office, was invited to the conference to present the Israel case study at the conference in Berlin on October 28th, 2010. Click to read the presentation given by Anat Saragusti»

Gaining Public Transportation, Arab Women in Israel Make History

- August 11, 2010 - Israel's Transportation Ministry announced in July that for the first time in Israel's history, public transportation services will be offered to Arab locales. "History in the Arab Israeli Sector" read a press release issued by the Ministry.
This is an unprecedented success for the rural Arab women who fought for mobility in their localities over the course of six years, through the project "Women Demand Mobility" initiated and facilitated by Kayan - Feminist Organization, and supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Dr. Bettina Suleiman more»

November 5, 2012 - The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung is pleased to support the annual International Women’s Film Festival in Rehovot, Israel. We are cooperating with the Festival on its 9th anniversary on the program: Women, Film, Environment. The program will include film screenings followed by discussions with representatives from women’s and environmental organizations, many of whom are our project partners A greeting by the director of the Israel office and more information»

Women and Environmental Health

- March 16, 2012 -

We are happy to present a groundbreaking report on Women and Environmental Health in Israel written by our partner Ella Nave of the Coaloition of Public Health (Hebrew, PDF, 88 pages, 2.80 MB)

The Future We Want - A Feminist Perspective

- March 16, 2012 -
The Future We Want – the motto chosen by the UN in the run-up to the June 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) – is certainly forward-looking. Rio+20 is supposed to define routes towards a safer, fairer, greener, and cleaner world. But the blueprints for a green economy are devoid of gender perspectives. Christa Wichterich’s essay takes a closer look on the relations between feminism and ecology.
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September 10, 2011 - Religion has an important function in the public and political life of many societies that also affects the relations between men and women as well as the right to gender equality. Still, how do religion and politics mingle precisely and what are the concrete social and political consequences of this mixture from a gender perspective? To address these questions, we conducted an extensive research project in collaboration with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) which focused on 11 countries: Chile, India, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, USA. more»

December 22, 2011 - The question of women's position, power and status in organizations is essential to promoting gender equality, since organizations and social institutions provide the central arenas and settings in which gender hierarchies, inequalities and disadvantages are created and reproduced. HBF supported a research on gender translation undertaken by Gender and Women Studies Program at Tel Aviv University and WIPS Center at the Van Leer Institute in order to learn about gender mainstreaming in organizations through experience and situation in the field. Dr. Zeev Lerer and Hadass Ben-Eliyahu more»

Gender Equality Initiatives in Transportation Policy

- December 8, 2011 - Adva Center, policy analysis institute examining Israeli society from the perspective of equality and social justice, carried out a project supported by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung Israel in 2011 on Gender Mainstreaming Programming & Budgeting in Israeli Ministries (The Women’s Budget Forum at the Adva Center). The paper reviews current Gender Equality Initiatives in Transportations Policy. more»

Jewish and Jewish-Palestinian Feminist Organizations in Israel

- February 15, 2010 - This newly published report by the Israel office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation is a first of its kind in-depth exploration of the contemporary feminist movement in Israel. The report focuses on Jewish and joint Jewish-Palestinian feminist organizations in Israel and includes a mapping section of 46 organizations (available in Hebrew only) and an analysis of the trends and characteristics of the feminist NGO field in Israel (available in Hebrew, English and Arabic). more»

Gender Politics Makes a Difference - Experiences of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Across the World

- Politics can only succeed when it is inclusive of all genders. Gender justice is an ambitious goal, one that the Heinrich Böll Foundation is pursuing together with many different allies worldwide. This publication gives an overview of their work. more»

Gender Mainstreaming – Possibilities and Limits of a Radical Social Concept

- Gender mainstreaming is, at its core, a radical socio-political concept for achieving gender equality and equal opportunity. Barbara Unmüßig explores its development – and the difficulties encountered. Barbara Unmüßig more»

August 12, 2009 - On Saturday night, August 1st, a masked gunman walked into the “youthbar” - a social youth program run by the Tel Aviv LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) association - lifted an automatic machine-gun and began shooting aimlessly and killing two people, and wounding ten others before fleeing into the night. Yonatan Gher more»

Itach Maaki - Women Lawyers for Social Justice: Following Itach-Maaki’s prior success in advancing women’s participation in policymaking and triggering broad public discussion on this issue, Itach-Maaki’s project Women's Voices = Women's Impact continues to work toward full involvement of diverse women in all aspects of public life and policymaking in Israel. Inspired by UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, the project’s current focus (with civil society partners) is on the advancement of a National Action Plan for the implementation of the resolutions’ principles within the Israeli government and its institutions to promote women’s participation in decision-making, protection of women against violence and prevention of armed conflict, which has a distinct impact on women.  Further, Itach-Maaki continues to work independently on the implementation of Amendments 4 and 6 to the 1951 Women's Equal Rights Law in Israel, a domestic law mandating representation of diverse women on public committees that deal with social issues as well as matters of war and peace.  Women’s Voices = Women’s Impact aims to ensure comprehensive and long term gender justice for women in Israel and for the entire society.

The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute: Translation of Gender Mainstreaming within Organizations: workshops in social translation. The workshops on social translation are carried out as part of the MA Program in Gender Studies at Tel Aviv University, as a joint venture with the WIPS program Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere (WIPS) at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. The aim of the workshop is to develop initial infrastructure of experience based models, strategies and tools for translating Gender Mainstreaming within organizational arenas, by internal actors and agents.

Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law: In the course of 2014, a database on LGBT Rights Litigation in Israel will be built. The database will enable easy access to all cases (trial cases as well as settlements reached out of the courts), and maintain a constant update on LGBT rights litigation in Israel for the benefit of researchers, activists, lawyers and students, and more broadly the LGBT community and anyone interested in civil rights in Israel. The database will be launched at a public event in May 2014. Details will follow