Barak's Broken Promise To Women

By Letty Cottin Pogrebin

An open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak:

After promising to name three women to your cabinet, you only managed one -- Dalia Itzik, Minister of the Environment, a relatively minor post compared to Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, Finance, etc..

Last week in Jerusalem, you told a gathering of women's organizations, "I have an outstanding debt to the women of Israel and I intend to deal with it." You acknowledged that it was you yourself who had created the expectation of greater representation and pledged to make good on your promises.

Given Israel's pitiful record on women in government -- it ranks 170th in the world -- that debt is earning interest at a colossal rate. Despite a Declaration of Independence that prohibits discrimination by sex, and despite years of hype about gender equality --including the popular myth that women are equal in the army and that "if Golda could be Prime Minister, women can be anything") -- the truth is that women are still second class citizens in many arenas (third class if they're Arab Israelis), especially in public life. No Israeli government has had more than one woman cabinet minister in the 51 years since the founding of the State.

Soon after you announced your cabinet, women's groups began demonstrating outside your office demanding reparations and fair representation for women in all future policy-making and peace-making.

Although American women are not out in the streets, we, too, are watching you closely, especially if the Knesset approves your request to expand the cabinet. We're watching to see who you name to fill those extra slots, who are your deputy ministers and closest advisors, who gets the top diplomatic posts, and whether you use your office's bully pupit to advance women's interests.

Here are some official acts and symbolic gestures that would begin to repay your debt:

You could name women to all four of the ministerial portfolios over which you've retained control. Don't claim there are no qualified women; if qualifications mattered, Israel wouldn't have had a Foreign Minister who can't speak English, a Justice Minister who's not a lawyer, or a Communications Minister too religious to own a television.

You could call a press conference and gather leaders of various women's organizations to stand at your side in a dramatic gesture of inclusion as you deliver a major policy speech about the need for Israel to draw upon its deep reservoir of untapped female talent -- and do it passion and a commitment to specific goals.

You could announce that 50 percent of all remaining appointments -- from deputy minister on down -- will be women, stating that you see no virtue in gradualism where the pursuit of justice is concerned.

As your Ambassador to the United States, you could appoint Colette Avital. A sophisticated and articulate national spokesperson, Israel's highest ranking female diplomat and formerly Consul General in New York, Avital is well-known to the American public and media. Out of 120 members of the Knesset, a record 14 women were elected but because of your coalition horse-trading during the campaign, Avital was not among them. Surely, you owe her one.

Israeli women are tired of finagling and tokenism, tired of being asked to postpone their just demands in the interest of more "pressing matters." There will always be competing priorities like terrorism, or the peace process, or coalition politics, but if you are serious about creating a new day for Israel, now is the time to pay your mounting debt to half the population.

People can fax their responses to Barak directly at: 011-972-2-566-4838.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, is the author of Deborah, Golda, and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America, and Honorary Chair of the Israel Women's Network.