The effects of the ongoing war have hit Israeli women harder than men, according to a new report from the Adva Center and Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. The report examined the war’s effects on gender based violence, women’s employment, and female underrepresentation in politics.
According to the report, insufficient forethought has caused a failure to recognize women’s needs during the war, and there is a current lack of suitable solutions to women’s social and economic reality. Pre-existing gender gaps in wages, ability to balance paid work and childcare, physical and mental health, and exposure to violence have widened over the last year.
The report, which was published in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, shed light on a number of worrying trends. Throughout the war, women became significantly less represented in key political positions and decision making roles, despite women’s central role in addressing the crisis on a civilian level. The current parliament which was elected in November 2022 has just 29 female members from a total of 120. Only one of the 14 ministers on the Security Cabinet and three of the 19 ministers on the Socioeconomic Cabinet are women.
There has also been a massive drop in employment for women during the war, especially those who are on casual contracts, self-employed, and Arab women. Women are also overrepresented in the statistics of workers who have been laid off or furloughed during the war. In addition, there is an identifiable gender-based pattern in workplace absences since the outbreak of war. Whilst many men have missed work in the past year due to reserve duty (18% in October 2023 and 41% in January 2024), up to 25% of women missed work in January and February due to illness or family matters.
Shortages in social services mean that women suffering from the effects of war are unable to access help. According to estimates, there is a shortage of approximately 5,000 social workers in the municipalities and in the Ministries of Welfare and Health. The education system lacks 30% of the psychologists it is required to have according to the current standards.
Worryingly, there is a recorded increase in the severity of domestic violence cases, seen through the increase in the number of arrests made and indictments filed. This is alongside a decrease in the number of reports during the first months of the war.
This is clearly different when compared to the coranavirus pandemic when there was a steep increase in domestic violence reports during the first few months. The report attributed the difference to feelings of illegitimacy in the face of the war and the atrocities witnessed on October 7.
There has been a significant increase in private gun licenses, which further raises the fear of violence against women. In 2023, the number of private gun licenses that were approved by the Ministry of National Security was more than three times the number approved in 2022. According to the data, anytime there is an increase in the number of private gun owners, there is an increase in the use of guns for violence.
In Israel’s Arab society, the report notes that worsening political persecution deeply affects Arab women’s sense of security, especially in mixed spaces, which has disrupted their ability to participate in the labor market. For example, 60% of Arab women (as opposed to 48% of Arab men) report feelings of discomfort while traveling to or through Jewish or mixed neighborhoods and towns for errands or work purposes.
A call to include women among policy makers
The Adva Center’s report called for the inclusion of women among policy makers and the adoption of a gender perspective in policy planning and decision-making, in order to reduce harm to women and prevent widening gender gaps in Israel.
It also recommended ensuring the systematic collection and publication of gender-segmented data in order to identify how trends might change over time.
Sociologist Dr. Yael Hasson wrote in the report, “It is not possible to write a rehabilitation and recovery policy and assist in providing solutions without taking into account the unique effects of the war on women… There must be continuous monitoring of these issues in order to prevent regression in the status of women and the widening of the gender gap in Israel.”
Hadass Ben-Eliyahu, scientific director of Yoda’at – Israel Knowledge Center on Women and Gender, noted that emergency situations “are not gender neutral.” “Those who make decisions that affect the reality of life in Israel must understand the unique consequences of those decisions on the lives of women and must respond to this, both in conducting the war, and in the rehabilitation after the war,” she wrote. “Every policy decision has an effect on gender, and ignoring that means only caring for men.”
This article was translated from Hebrew and edited for context by Leah Schwartz and Tzivia Gross.
