Walking on broken glass

Over the past three decades, women in Israel have come a long way toward achieving equality. Gender laws have been passed, shelters for battered women have been established and there is an increased awareness of advertising that is damaging to women. Issues of inequality and gender discrimination, integrating women into the labor force and the representation of women in politics have all earned their place on the agenda.

A dramatic change is also taking place at institutes of higher education. Nearly 60 percent of bachelor's degree recipients are women, while females also make up more than half the recipients of doctoral degrees.

Nevertheless, women are still oppressed, discriminated against and shunted aside in most areas of life. Women are murdered because they are women. They are sexually harassed; bought, sold and exploited in the sex industry; discriminated against during divorce proceedings at rabbinical courts. In academia, the top of the pyramid remains a male and inegalitarian preserve - with respect to both career advancement and salary. Science and technology are still considered male professions.

Even though we speak in a rhetoric based on equality, explicit and implicit mechanisms of discrimination still exist, influenced by religion, military service and the family - creating an unjust reality and gender blindness concerning women's needs. The political scene, too, is not as neutral and egalitarian as many tend to think. There is a structural bias in place which favors men. It turns out qualifications and education are not enough - women are not walking through the corridors of power, nor are they represented in the focal points of power.

Women who succeed in getting elected to the Knesset are the exception. There are 21 women now serving in the 18th Knesset, the highest number since the Israeli parliament's inception. However, this figure still represents only 17.5 percent of Knesset members; and in comparison to the proportion of women serving in parliaments abroad, Israel is ranked 69th out of 150 states.

Will an increase in the number of elected representatives necessarily lead to a new gender agenda, or will it simply serve as a fig leaf for the perpetuation of the sexist agenda that exists? Experience shows that most women elected to the Knesset tend to adopt conservative and conformist politics to avoid being identified with what are considered female issues, as feminist activity does not necessarily pay.

Women who have succeeded in breaking through the glass ceiling to the power centers adopt an image of the modern woman: economically independent and free to make every decision concerning their body and their independence. However, this image does not correspond with the public portrait of most women in Israel, who continue to fill traditional roles in society.

The political reality proves that the first to be affected by human rights violations are women. Women are poorer than men, work at lower-level positions, consistently earn less and are perceived as "secondary providers," therefore making it easier for employers to fire them.

Only 19 percent of the Arab women in Israel (as compared to 56 percent of the Jewish women) are part of the labor force, and their average pay is lower than that of Jewish women. During an economic crisis, women are more affected than men, they are fired more often and are more often found at the bottom of the ladder.

A social vision that seeks the advancement of gender equality must place the issue of wage gaps at the top of its agenda. This vision must be backed by votes in favor of laws which will render the labor market suitable for women and which include the necessary budgets to implement these laws.

Only actual and significant participation by the state in the following areas will enable women to truly break through the glass ceiling: subsidizing working parents' expenses for hiring a caregiver or sending a child to day care or kindergarten; expanding the system of early childhood day care centers, including those in the workplace; implementing the Long School Day Law; and enforcing the law which promises men and women equal pay for equal work. For many women the glass ceiling is not transparent, but rather made of opaque and armored glass.

The writer served as an MK for the Meretz party from 1999-2009. She is now a Ph.D. candidate in gender studies at Bar-Ilan University.