postcolonial definition of civil society. This per-
ceives these categories as fluid, socially negotiated,
and shaped by the relationship of convergence and
separation, a result of the political and cultural
construction of reality carried by various social
forces in a particular historical period. From this
perspective, civil society offers alternative options
for inclusive equal citizenship.
Though geographically in the Middle East, and
surrounded by Islamic countries, Israel is, in many
senses, a Western nation. A liberal democratic
state, with an 18 percent Palestinian minority, Israel
grants equal rights to all citizens regardless of sex,
religion, or race. However, ethnic, national, and
gender inequality are deeply woven into the cultural
and structural landscape. Five basic components
have produced a culture of exclusion and inclusion
of women in Israel: (1) the myth of equality; (2) a
binary gendered perception of the world; (3) patri-
archal cultural and structural arrangements of
Jewish and Palestinian society; (4) the lack of sepa-
ration between state and religion, which supports
patriarchy; and (5) the protracted Israeli-Arab con-
flict, which emphasizes military and militarism as a
male domain and the family as female domain. In
both Jewish and Arab Palestinian society women
embrace familial roles, which, though they margin-
alize them, include them as signifiers of the collec-
tive boundaries and national solidarity (Kanaaneh
2002, Hasan 2002, Herzog 1998, Yuval-Davis
1987). These components subordinate women’s
roles and status to the state, and neutralize female
power in institutionalized politics. Women’s forums,
which often define themselves as feminist, chal-
lenge the predominantly patriarchal culture by sug-
gesting alternatives to the dominant structures.
Israel’s highly segregated society is represented in
the history of Jewish and Palestinian civil activity;
each traveled three major stages in its history.
Jewish society- Under Ottoman and British colonial rule, Jew-
ish social activities occurred mainly at the civil soci-
ety level. The predominant historiography of this
period is narrated from a male perspective and
stresses the construction of governmental institu-
tions and economic infrastructure. Until recently, it
neglected women’s roles entirely. Women were
extremely active in the suffrage struggle, and in
their contributions to the establishment of schools,
health services, and clinics for women and infants,
and organized social work (Shilo 2001). Most of
these endeavors were eventually co-opted by and
institutionalized within a national framework. With
israel 45the centralization of political power and bureau-
cratization, however, women were marginalized.- Ruled by the hegemony of the Labor Party in
the first three decades of the state – from 1948 until
the late 1970s – state and civil society merged (Ben
Eliezer 1998). Women’s organizations, as most
other organizations, were forced to adjust to the
dominant political agenda of the period – one that
gave priority to a gender biased nation-state
(Fogiel-Bijaoui 1992, Izraeli 1999, Herzog 2004). - Since the late 1970s, feminist organizing has
flourished in Israel, extending civil society, and
becoming particularly strong in the 1990s. The
emergence of feminist organizations in Israel was
part of an international trend cemented by the
United Nation’s Declaration of the Decade For
Women in 1975, the extension of non-governmen-
tal organizations (NGOs) (Yishai 1998), and the
decentralization of the state (Ben Eliezer 2003). In
1981, the Law of Associations (NGOs, in Hebrew
amutot) was brought into force and new organiza-
tions were required to register with the ministry of
the interior. This was part of the state’s effort to
monitor the flood of organizational activity. In
1982, there were 12,000 Jewish and Palestinian-
Israeli NGOs. In 2000 that number reached 27,000
(Jaffe 2002). Nearly a quarter of these organiza-
tions are women’s organizations and women are
very active in all the organizations.
Many women’s organizations focus on a single
issue, for example, working to end violence and
sexual assault, protecting reproductive and marital
rights, advocating for one-parent families and les-
bian rights, or addressing offensive advertising,
sexism, racism, ethnic inequality, and religious
discrimination. Some also work to enhance the
political agenda. Many of the latter used ideas of
womanhood and motherhood as their banner, for
example, mothers of soldiers, Women in Black,
Women in Green (of the Right), Woman to Woman
(for Jewish and Palestinian co-existence) (Helman
1997, El-Or 1995).
Most of the women’s organizations are small,
somewhat marginal, and often isolated from each
other. In spite of the weak ties between organiza-
tions the growth of feminism has had a cumulative
effect in the political sphere. Proposals for feminist
legislation and a Women’s Status Committee have
resulted from grassroots activity and the diffuse
and decentralized character of women’s activity
within civil society. This activity is slowly trans-
forming the political culture of Israel by suggesting
alternative visions of gender relations and women’s
social status.