Gender Segregation, Effacement, and Suppression: Trends in the Status of Women inIsrael

Abstract The aim of this article is to analyze the phenomenon of the exclusion of women from the public sphere in I srael. The article describes some of the causes of this phenomenon, its impact on Israeli society, and the difficulty in confronting it. I sraeli women have made impressive gains on many fronts, but the exclusion of women from the public sphere as a result of the influence of the growing U ltra‐ O rthodox minority, which imposes its norms on the general public, raises serious concerns. The exclusion of women manifests itself in several forms: gender segregation in public spaces, the effacement of women's images from the public sphere, and the suppression of women's voice. The infiltration of Orthodox Jewish fundamentalism into Israeli society may cause the regression of advancements previously made in women's rights in I srael. The article points to the limitations of the treatment of this phenomenon within a theory of multiculturalism, and suggests an alternative framework of discourse, which relies on concepts that are drawn from the literature on environmental ethics, public rights, and public ownership of space and resources.