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Woman's Personal Security Voices from Israel

Pnina Steinberg Contents:

Executive Summary 1. Introduction: "Poor country with happy people"

1.1 A Note on Theory and Methodology of Diversity 1.2 Participants: Diversity reconsidered 1.3 Security as a key symbol in the Israeli culture

2. Literature Review 2.1 National security 2.2 Physical/sexual security 2.3 Economic security 2.4 Previous Studies: Women's Security Index

3. Current Study Findings: The Framing and Reframing of Security 3.1 "What do I understand about it?!" – Untangling Women's Entitlement to Security Discourse 3.2 Times, places and life practices generating insecurity 3.3 Times, Places and Life Practices Generating Security

4. In lieu of conclusion: How do Israeli Women of the study cope with issues of insecurity? 5. Appendix: Israel's well-being relative to OECD states

List of tables:

1. Participants by age groups 2. Participants by Religion 3. Participants by Geographical Location 4. Participants by Education 5. Jewish Participants by Ethnic Descent 6. Reported causes for feeling insecurity or pressure by Palestinian and Jewish

women 7. Main issues women of the study feel insecure about

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1. Executive Summary 1.1. Introduction: "Poor country with happy people"

On a recent OECD1 report (January, 2016) Israel was portrayed as a poor country with happy people, but it is not clear how much of these conclusions taek women's concern into concideration. While Israeli government adopts broad perspective on security, it is women civil society organizations that demand gendering all indicators, and taking into account not only the difference between the way men and women experience security, but also the diversity within women from various socio-economic statuses, various ethnic origins, geographical locations etc. In civil society circles this is not a new form of thinking. But it is not yet mainstreamed into government and formal actions of the state. The coalition "Women to Women"2 based in Haifa, has been building since 2012 the "Women Security Index". Their project aims at creating an index that will examine security level of women from various groups in Israel and will give account of a variety of areas to reflect meaning of security and lack of gendered, economic, social, political, physical and sexual security, among other areas.3 One of the first findings of this project was that the main causes of women's insecurity are not wars and terror attacks but sexual violence and economic instability. Current pilot study takes made an effort to voice Israeli women's diversity in regards to security issues and strategies of coping with insecurity and hazardous situations in their lives. Upon onset of interviews and focus groups it soon became clear that diversity and commonalities run deeper than the eye meets. The most salient every-day, taken for granted meaning of "security" in Israel – is the state-military security. Participants of this pilot study discussed with me many meanings, and while they too referred to state-military security, it was easy to see they have other security needs too, and not less important to them.

1.2. Literature Review: Women & Security in Israel Israeli women have a long history of Security related activism. As one might expect - their actions have not been limited to the field of “national” security, but, have taken place in fields of “humane” security as well. Frequently taking place outside of traditional state institutions, there were also attempts to influence and change state institutions from within. These actions not only generated a sense of security for women, but also exposed institutions’ deficiencies and expand government’s                                                                                                                          1 Israel was accepted as a full member of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in September 2010. 2 A coalition of six women's organizations (Women's Security Index Coalition – WSIC), formed at 2012. They developed the Women’s Security Index together, through which they strive to show that security for women involves a lot more than just ‘military protection against terrorists’. 3 http://women-security-index.org/about-us/

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conception of “security”, to include women’s perspectives. This section overviews women's activism in three main themes of women & security in Israel: involvement with national security, street harassments (as an example for physical and sexual security) and economic security. Precious studies data shows that while there are differences in sources of stress and anxiety for women from different groups, they share some common basic sense of insecurity, stemming from gender inequality, and not related to the military-security sphere, in the strict sense of the word.

1.3. Current Study Findings: The Framing and Reframing of Security

Most initial reactions pronounced reservation, disfavor and puzzlement, as most women see themselves unskilled to talk about state security (which is the most salient meaning of "security" in Israel). But as I negotiated my way into the interview or group discussion participants of this pilot study shared time places and life practices generating insecurity. Many of them feel insecure both in public places and in private places. Their main concern are in the areas of the sexual/physical, economic, national, professional and psychological/emotional securities. Pilot research participants also shared strategies of generating security:

- internal self-reliance - expectation and promise of family support - humane, border crossing personal interactions

1.4. In lieu of conclusion: how do Israeli women of the research cope with issues of insecurity?

Five main strategies of coping are found in the research materials. All strategies have been adopted by women of various backgrounds. Each strategy is exemplified here with experts of study participants interviews and group discussions:

- Personal responsibility - Normalization - Faith based support - Social support - Family support

This pilot study exposed Israeli women of all walks of life as strong, inventive, reflexive and well aware of their political, national, ethnic, economic and social situations. While they seem to manage rough situations very well – it is also clear they feel they need to create their own shelters from every-day hazards of life in Israel – whether physical, psychological, economic or other shelters. Israeli women of this pilot study may indicate strength on their part of Israeli society, but at the very same time they also expose current compromised ability of Israeli formal institutions to protect women, hear their concerns, develop proper mechanisms and services to answer these concerns and help women feel secure.

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1. Introduction: "Poor country with happy people" Security conceptions in Israel reflect and follow recent developments in the way security is perceived in the world. In general one may notice that International and governmental formal accounts are moving from state security to the concept of human security. On a recent OECD4 report (January, 2016) Israel was portrayed as a poor country with happy people. The report reflected relatively high life satisfaction as well as high levels of education and health. Israel is also 3rd – on income inequality and 33rd in personal security. Another area of the OECD report, in which Israel is ranked low, is balance between work and private life. There is also a ray of light – life expectancy is among the highest, and in satisfaction with life we are on the respectable 13th place. When all parameters are integrated – Israel is ranked on the 24 out of 34 states (see appendix for Israel's well-being relative to OECD states). Israel government issued soon after this OECD report a follow-up expanded report "How life really is?".5 This report is the product of a process participated by 120 experts from government, economic sectors, civil society and representative organizations, with professional guidance of OECD experts. The steering committee decided on nine indicators for quality of life, sustainability and national resilience. While government adopts broad perspective on security, it is women civil society organizations that demand gendering all indicators, and taking into account not only the difference between the way men and women experience security, but also the diversity within women from various socio-economic statuses, various ethnic origins, geographical locations etc. In civil society circles this is not a new form of thinking. But it is not yet mainstreamed into government and formal actions of the state. The coalition "Women to Women"6 based in Haifa, has been building since 2012 the

                                                                                                                         4 Israel was accepted as a full member of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in September 2010. 5 Based on three Government decisions to improve strategic socio-economic planning and set quality of life, sustainability and social resilience indicators: Decision 5208 of the 32nd Government of Israel, "Institutionalization and improvement of Government Abilities in Making and Managing Socio-Economic Strategy" (4.11.12) http://www.pmo.gov.il/Secretary/GovDecisions/2012/Pages/des5208.aspx retrieved 1.6.16 Decision 5255 of the 32nd Government of Israel, "Quality of Life Indicators" (2.12.12) http://www.pmo.gov.il/Secretary/GovDecisions/2012/Pages/des5255.aspx Decision 2494 of the 33rd Government of Israel, "Quality of Life Indicators, Sustainability and Resilience" (19.4.15) http://www.pmo.gov.il/Secretary/GovDecisions/2015/Pages/dec2494.aspx 6 A coalition of six women's organizations (Women's Security Index Coalition – WSIC), formed at 2012. They developed the Women’s Security Index together, through which they

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"Women Security Index". Their project aims at creating an index that will examine security level of women from various groups in Israel and will give account of a variety of areas to reflect meaning of security and lack of gendered, economic, social, political, physical and sexual security, among other areas.7 One of the first findings of this project was that the main causes of women's insecurity are not wars and terror attacks but sexual violence and economic instability.

1.1. A Note on Theory and Methodology of Diversity Women's voices are almost absent from national decision making forums in Israel, and especially so in security related decisions8. Moreover - If we are to listen to women and represent their voices – we need to take into account that women are not all the same, as they come from different places and positions in society, and experience life differently due to their location in society. Women in geographical, economic and social periphery experience security and breaches of security in various ways, might have different needs and various insights. Hence we need to represent especially excluded groups of women who rarely participate in decision-making mechanisms in Israel. Tirosh and Thon-Ashkenazi conclude that in Israel diversity is achieved if at least central socio-demographic categories are addressed: religion, land of origin, ethnic descent, education, age, marital status, and geographical location9. In this study pilot we have spoken with 22 women in two focus groups and six interviews. As the National/religious difference between Jews and Arabs is very prominent in the Israeli society – it was very important to include women representing this cleavage. Hence one of the focus group was conducted at Al-Qasemi Academic College of Education, with the assistance of a former FGW participant who convened the group and acted as its instructor. The group conversation was conducted in Arabic and one of the participants have volunteered to transcribe and translate it. One of the interviewees was also a Muslim Arab who interviewed in Hebrew.

1.2. Participants: Diversity reconsidered The Israeli pilot consisted of two focus groups and six interviews, in which we had a total of 22 participants. While it is impossible in such a number of participants to                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            strive to show that security for women involves a lot more than just ‘military protection against terrorists’. 7 http://women-security-index.org/about-us/ 8  See: Tirosh, Y. and Thon-Ashkenazi, A. (2013). "Appropriate representation of women in national policymaking bodies: Following Amendment 4 of the Equal Rights for Women and resolution 1325 of the Security Council", Law and Government 15. Pp. 171-231. Steinberg, Pnina. 2015. Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Israel: Women Representation at Security Decision-Making positions in Israel - Base line 2013-2014. WIPS - the Center for Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere at Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. (Hebrew, Arabic, English).  9 Tirosh, Y. and Thon-Ashkenazi, A. (2013), P. 215  

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represent all possible socio-demographic variation – the participants come from some very different positions and social locations as can be seen from the distribution tables below. Age of participants range was 28-60 (see table 1 for age distribution). We met Jewish participants as well as Arabs (Muslim, Christian and Bedouin) who live in Israel (table 2). They live in the center, east and north of Israel (table 3). Education varied from high school to MA degree (table 4), occupations varied from students to social activists, established professionals and unemployed, marital status varies from single, to married with children (or pregnant) and divorced. Among the Jewish Participants were women of Ashkenazi descent and of Middle Eastern descent (table 5). Table No.1: Participants by age groups

No. Participants Age

5 28-30 8 31-40 4 41-50 5 51-60

22 Total Table No.2: Participants by Religion:

No. Participants Religion

2 Bedouin 1 Christian

15 Jewish 4 Muslim

22 Total

Table No.3: Participants by Geographical Location:

No. Participants

Geographical Location

15 Center (West) 5 Center (East) 2 North

22 Total

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Table No.4: Participants by Education:

Table No.5: Jewish Participants by Ethnic Descent:

No. Participants

Ethnic Descent of Jewish Participants

12 Eastern Europe (Ashkenazi Descent) 3 Middle East (Mizrahi Descent)

15 Total Upon onset of interviews and focus groups it soon became clear that diversity and commonalities run deeper than the eye meets. Consider, for example, a fashion designer – a woman who I thought would represent the strong hegemonic Ashkenazi segment of the Jewish population. A woman who "has made it" with a fashion studio in Tel-Aviv and what I thought was a large clientele of the upper middle class. She agrees immediately to my interview invitation, and when we meet one early morning in her studio, she unravels her story – a daughter of two holocaust survivors, married an abusive man, became a battered women, taking psychiatric medication against depressions, was under threat of murder, and when finally managed to leave the abusive husband – stayed with no formal education, and still struggles economically. Another example, is an opposite one, where at least from one prism – there is a common hidden characteristic to seemingly diverse group of women. Consider the Jewish focus group participating in this project: this is a young leadership group nurtured by one of the leading women's organizations in Israel. As promised by group organizers I was satisfied with internal diversity – with religious and secular young women, from center and north of Israel, of the privileged Ashkenazi descent and from excluded and oppressed groups, a new immigrant and native Israelis. When the young women started sharing security stories and concerns – we found out that 6 out of the ten participants were in an actual terror attack or in close proximity to one in the streets of their hometowns, on busses in dance clubs and in coffee shops. They carry

No. Participants Education

2 High school 3 Certificate Studies

10 BA 4 MA 1 MD 2 No Data

22 Total

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this experience silently with them, sometime knowing how it effects their decisions and behavior, sometimes not noticing the effect.

1.3. Security as a key symbol in the Israeli culture The word "security" translates into the Hebrew "ביטחון" (bitachon). If one looks up the word "bitachon" in any dictionary or other source of Hebrew language, one may find a plethora of associated meanings: confidence, Trust, certainty, faith, defense, assurance – to name the most popular ones10. One may also find security in the meaning of responsibility, guarantee, warranty (from Medieval Hebrew), and safeguard, protection (Modern Hebrew)11. The most salient every-day, taken for granted meaning of "security" in Israel – is the state-military security. This may briefly be exemplified by searching the Israeli Web for pictures of "security" – to find the (still) most popular meaning of security associated with national armed forces.

The penetrating and all-encompassing nature of military security discourse in Israel has been already documented from many perspectives12.

                                                                                                                         10 See for example: Elcalay, R. (1990). The Complete Hebrew English Dictionary. Givatayim, Israel: Chemed Books, Massada, Yediot Ahronot. P. 218 OR in the Internet Wiki-Dictionary: https://he.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%98%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9F 11 http://www.wordsense.eu/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%98%D7%97%D7%95%D7%9F/ 12 See, for example: Lebel. U. (2006). “Communicating Security”: Civil–Military Relations in Israel. Israel Affairs, 12(3), 361–364. Lumski-Feder, E and Ben-Ari, E (1999). The military and Militarism in Israeli Society. New-York: State University of New-York Press. Ochs, J. (2011). Security and Suspicion: An Ethnography of Everyday Life in Israel. University of Pennsylvania Press.  

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In recent years women organizations endeavor to change public and political understanding of the actual security needs of women. It is easy to see that "security" functions in the Israeli society as a key symbol13. A key symbol is a cultural element loaded with meanings, compounding or sorting out experience. Key symbols function as thought organizers, crystallizers of commitment and as inspiration for action. Ortner formulates five indicators of a key symbol, and "security" as a concept follows all of them14:

(1) The natives tell us that security is culturally important. (2) The natives seem positively or negatively aroused about security, rather than indifferent. (3) Security comes up in many different contexts. These contexts may be behavioral or systemic: security comes up in many different kinds of action situation or conversation, or security comes up in many different symbolic domains (myth, ritual, art, formal rhetoric, etc.). (4) There is greater cultural elaboration surrounding security, e.g., elaboration of vocabulary, or elaboration of details of security’s nature, compared with similar phenomena in the culture. (5) There are greater cultural restrictions surrounding security, either in sheer number of rules, or severity of sanctions regarding its misuse.

Participants of this pilot study used many possible meanings and I translated as close to the most plausible meaning as possible, taking into account verbal and cultural contexts.

2. Literature Review: Women & Security in Israel Israeli women have a long history of Security related activism. As one might expect - their actions have not been limited to the field of “national” security, but, have taken place in fields of “humane” security as well. Frequently taking place outside of traditional state institutions, there were also attempts to influence and change state institutions from within. These actions not only generated a sense of security for women, but also exposed institutions’ deficiencies and expand government’s conception of “security”, to include women’s perspectives. This section overviews three main themes of women & security in Israel: involvement with national security, street harassments (as an example for physical and sexual security) and economic security.

2.1. National Security                                                                                                                          13 Ortner, S. B. (1973). On Key Symbols. American Anthropologist, 75(5), 1338–1346.  14 Ortner uses "X" to signify the element referred to in the indicator. I switched every "X" with the word "security".

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Only few women in Israel’s history have been officially involved in state security policy and in military issues. The two most influential ones are Golda Meir and Tzipi Livni. Meir was the first and only female Prime Minister in Israel (1969 – 1974). She served in almost all the Israeli governments before being elected as Prime Minister, starting as Minister of Labor (1949 – 1956) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1956 – 1966). Livni was more recently the Foreign Minister (2006 – 2009) and leader of the negotiation team at peace talks with the Palestinians (2013 – 2014). It is worthwhile noting three additional senior security positions women have served on: Gabriela Shalev was appointed by Livni as Israeli ambassador to the UN (2008 – 2010). Women have been serving at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Iseaeli Knesset (parliament). The first female member was Esther Herlitz, who was also Israel’s first female ambassador. Third, few women were and are members of the state-security cabinet. Female Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked is currently a member, due to her ministerial position. Despite the fact that women and issues of gender are excluded from security-peace policy making in the government, women are active participants in the social security-peace conversation, through civil society's organizations and movements, especially since the 1980s.15 Four Mothers, for example, was a protest movement founded in 1997, by four mothers of soldiers serving in Lebanon. Their goal was to generate an Israeli withdrawal from the IDF’s security zone in south Lebanon, as did eventually happen. Four Mothers have significantly influenced public opinion by inserting the idea of “motherhood” into the security discourse. There are currently (2016) more than ten coalitions and movements established and led by women, aiming at achieving peace and/or national security. The more prominent ones include: Women Leading to Peace and Security. A coalition of 30 women organizations, led by Itach-Maaki (Women Lawyers for Social Justice), WIPS (Women in the Public Sphere) and Agenda – Israeli Center for Strategic Communication (merged with two other organizations at 2013 to become "Anu"). This coalition have agreed on A Comprehensive Action Plan for the Application of United Nation Security Council Resolution 1325, which was submitted to the Israeli government. The vision embodied in the plan, which is present through all of its goals, objectives and proposed activities rests upon re-definition of the concept of “security”. 1325 coalition sees security as a broad concept that includes: protection from violence in public and private spaces; termination of the ongoing state of warfare; protection and advancement of political, civil, and economic rights; freedom from religious coercion; freedom from oppression born of denial of personal and collective rights; freedom

                                                                                                                         15 Sylvie Fogiel-Bijaoui, Democracy and Feminism: Gender, Citizenship and Human Rights (Raanana: The Open University, 2011), p. 173 [Hebrew].

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from violence, which results in death and destruction among innocent people and equal opportunities for women from all parts of society in the economy, education, employment, health, and housing. Moreover, the Action Plan is based on a definition of security that includes a peaceful resolution of the conflict, the establishment of agreed-upon national borders, withdrawal from occupied territories, prevention of future violent conflict, and the establishment of stable and enduring peace.16 The greatest success of this coalition so far is the Israeli government’s decision (December 2014) to implement extensive sections of the UNSC1325 resolution, through the adoption of UNSC2331resolution. Young Women's Forum for 1325 – a national forum of young women promoting the values of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and supports feminist activism in the fields of Peace and Security. The young professionals and students who take part in the forum, are passionate about promoting young women in the fields of peace and security, increasing the security perception of young women in Israel, and promoting awareness to women’s issues in conflict zones. The forum invites women and men from all religious, political and ethnic backgrounds.17 Women Wage Peace – Founded in 2014, Woman Wage Peace aim to raise awareness to the possibility and necessity of achieving a viable peace agreement. In their view, a political resolution needs to be at the top of the public agenda, as it is the only outcome that offers life and hope. They perceive a new and different reality in the Middle East as feasible, and they claim that we all must strive for it. Therefore, they decided to initiate, mobilize and propose an alternative. Whether left or right-wing, religious or secular, Arab or Jewish, they believe everyone wants to live in a society characterized by normality, prosperity and human rights.18 Members of the organization are women across the political spectrum and from the wide range of Israel’s ethnic groups and sectors. This variety is also one of the criticisms of the organization, as it does not enable them to agree on a certain security proposal or detailed ideology. Their main achievement was a meeting with the Prime Minister in 2015, who promised to put the issue of state-security on the daily agenda. As the daily Israeli discourse hardly refers to this topic, this is a significant achievement. Women in Black – A movement founded in 1988 following the first Intifada, initially as a means of resistance to Israel’s military actions in Judea and Samaria. Since 1988, multiple Women in Black groups have risen across the country, raising awareness to the occupation through silent protest. The groups protest weekly across the country at

                                                                                                                         16 A Comprehensive Action Plan for the Application of United Nation Security Council Resolution 1325 (2013), http://www.vanleer.org.il/sites/files/atttachment_field/Israeli%20Action%20Plan%201325%2031%2010%202013.pdf   17 Young Women and Female Students for the Promotion of 1325, https://www.facebook.com/groups/594593687303810 [Hebrew]. 18 Women Wage Peace, http://womenwagepeace.org.il/category/english

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scheduled times, holding signs and dressed in black. They have also inspired the creation of a similar movement in the US. Of the movement’s 10,000 members, the majority are women.19 Women for Israel’s Tomorrow - Women in Green - Women for Israel’s Tomorrow, popularly known as Women in Green, was founded in Israel in 1993 by Ruth and Michael Matar, is a grassroots movement of women and men. They act out of the belief in the central role of the Land of Israel to the future of the Jewish People “Eretz Yisrael Le’Am Yisrael” (“The Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel”) is their motto. Their activities include holding educational and cultural activities promoting their ideology, in Judea and Samaria, the main areas of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.20 In addition to the activities of these organizations, women’s groups and female MKs, together with governmental mechanisms, promoted the involvement of women in the Israel Defense Force. This took place mainly during the second half of the 1990s. They struggled to enable women to serve in combat positions, and against sexual harassment in the army. For example, in 1994, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that the army must accept women as pilots, following Alice Miller’s petition.21 Two recent acts of resistance include the decision of May Fattal to legally pursue her commander, Liran Hajbi, who sexually attacked her, and to come out publically after he was convicted; and the ongoing case of another women to legally pursue her high-ranking commander, Ofek Buchris, who allegedly raped her.

2.2. Physical/sexual Security Street Harassments

The concept of “street harassments” refers to gender-based harassments that take place a wide range of areas in the public sphere. Feminist literature has defined the phenomenon of street harassments as a practice where women are harassed by unfamiliar men in the public sphere, which is not their workplace, and the stalker or stalkers send them sexual messages. Street harassments define the woman as a sexual object and forces upon them an interaction with a stranger22.

Section 3(a)(5) in the law for Prevention of Sexual Harassment, defends women from a variety of street harassments. However, the law does not cover the many kinds of harassments women encounter, such as whistling, honking, etc. All of the harassments women absorb in the public sphere, from the time they are children, compromise their personal security.

In 2011, a telephone survey was conducted in collaboration with the website “Hollaback”, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel and Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality's committee for advancing the status of women. The telephone survey

                                                                                                                         19 Naomi Himyen-Reish, ‘Women and the Civil Society’, Parliament, 57 (2008) 20 Women in Green, < http://womeningreen.org/> [Hebrew]. 21 Sarai Aharoni,’”Living in Peace with Ourselves”: Gender Equality an Feminism in the Oslo Peace Process’, 20 Years to the Oslo Peace Process (2014), 48 – 54 (p. 49) [Hebrew]. 22 file:///C:/Users/AYC/Downloads/2013_..pdf [Hebrew]

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was conducted among a representative sample of 500 women ages 16 and up, who live in Tel-Aviv-Jaffa. Approximately half (45%) reported experiencing street harassments. When these women were asked more detailed questions, such as “Have you been honked at?”, “Have you been offered obscene suggestions?”, “Has someone intentionally brushed himself upon you?” the findings showed a much higher rate of 83%, and 90% among women under 60.

According to the feminist understanding, these harassments are a part of the symbolic control the patriarchal society inflicts on women to preserve its power. This control, named Insidious trauma by Efi Ziv, is manifested in the transformation of women’s day to day to a series of traumatic events for her, while for the dominating society this is the normative reality.23

Resistance to street harassments:

Women in Yellow – An Israeli organization established in 2013 and inspired by the “Pink Gang” in India, to defend women who feel threatened in the streets of Southern Tel-Aviv24

An Interactive map of Beer-Sheva that warns from stalkers – Many female students who were harassed chose not to complain to the police, but rather they share details on Facebook. This sharing began in 2013, and led to a map that enables an anonymous update of the time of the harassment, the information reported to the police (there is also a patrol in Beer-Sheva made up of female and male students whose goal is to create a safer environment for young female students in night-life entertainment places).

2.3. Economic Security Israel’s economy does not offer the same opportunities and security to men and women. Pay gaps, a division of labor, difference of access to economic sources and a lacking governmental social security net have placed women in a more fragile economic position than men, leading to dependency and to poverty. As of 2014, women’s salaries constitute 67% of men’s salaries.25 Per hour, women earn 16% less of men. While more women than men work in less socially appreciated occupations such as care-givers, secretaries, cleaners, nurses and teachers; more men than women work in engineering, as drivers and as managers. In all of these professions, men earn more than women.26 As of 2013, 18% of women are poor, compared to 16.5% of men.27

                                                                                                                         23 http://mafteakh.tau.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/5-2012-04.pdf [Hebrew] 24 http://www.haaretz.co.il/magazine/tozeret/1.2004118 [Hebrew] https://www.facebook.com/nasimyello/ [Hebrew] 25 Gendered Salary Gaps in Israel http://adva.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Gender-Gaps-2015-1.pdf [Hebrew] 26 http://adva.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Bidul-1.pdf 27 http://www.genderindex.vanleer.org.il/%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99/

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Dafna Izraeli28 describes three means of women’s resistance to the reality of economic insecurity in Israel’s 1980s and 1990s: organizing in unions, legislation and appeals to Israel’s High Court of Justice (Bagatz), and self-change. These means of resistance continued in the 2000s and still take place nowadays. Organizing in unions – During the 1990s, nurses, teachers, social workers, pharmacists, and hospital service employees organized in unions. Women were the majority of the members and leaders of the union. They went on strikes and managed to improve the economic wellbeing of 25% of women in the public service.29 Legislation and appeals – During these two decades, multiple laws were passed and appeals were administered, improving women’s economic rights. These included the law for equal pay for work of the same value;30 laws against discrimination and against sexual harassment; the requirement to ensure an adequate representation of women as directors in governmental companies; El-Al, Israel’s national airline was required to hire a female pilot; and the Ministry of Work and Welfare was required to seriously search for a female assistant director general.31 These laws and appeals were promoted by women both in and out of the political system. in 2008, the employment opportunities commission was established by Adv. Tziona Koenig-Yair.32 Self-change – Women’s groups organized courses and support groups for women, providing them with knowledge and skills aimed at improving their status in the business world. Later on, women were also offered external studies in universities and college.33 To Izraeli’s analysis, two additional means of resistance can be added: gender budgeting, and grassroots resistance. Different coalitions have attempted to advance gender mainstreaming in Israel’s national budget. Nowadays, these attempts have been unified under feminist NGO: Adva Center that is promoting the idea by cooperating with female MKs, by constructively criticizing the attempt at gender budgeting in Israel’s 2015-6 budget and by organizing women’s groups in local municipalities and teaching them about social economics and gender budgeting, and helping course graduates in projects promoting gender equality in their own municipality. Grassroots resistance – Women have initialized and become the face of grassroots widespread demonstrations against Israel’s economic system while demanding the government take action. In 2003, a woman named Vicki Knafo walked 200km from her home in Mizpe Ramon, in the south of Israel, to Jerusalem, to protest her and                                                                                                                          28 Dafna Izraeli, ‘The Genderization of the World of Labor’, in Sex Gender Politics; Women in Israel ed. by Giora Rozen (Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2006), pp. 167 – 215 (pp. 185 – 187, 210) [Hebrew]. 29 Dafna Izraeli, ‘The Genderization of the World of Labor’, in Sex Gender Politics; Women in Israel ed. by Giora Rozen (Tel-Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2006), pp. 167 – 215 (pp. 185 – 187, 210) [Hebrew]. 30 Ibid., pp. 185 – 187. 31 Ibid., pp. 208 – 210. 32 Fogiel-Bijaoui, p. 174. 33 Izraeli, pp. 208 – 210.

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other single mothers’ difficult economic situation. When she arrived in Jerusalem the Minister of Treasury refused to meet her, and her walk turned into a tent camp of 200 single mothers and their children. The protest was almost entirely unsuccessful, since though she finally met with the minister, few changes actually happened.34 In the summer of 2011, a woman named Daphni Leef protested the high housing prices by setting a tent in Tel-Aviv. Her protest turned into the largest civil protest in Israeli history, and was led by a few people, two of the most prominent were women. Leef herself, and Stav Shaffir. This protest did not yield immediate results and was dissolved, as the summer ended. Shaffir became an MK at the following elections and is still leading activities for a fair budget allocation. In 2015, Or-Ly Bar-Lev led and is still leading an economic protest against the government’s neo-liberal plan for a private monopoly on Israel’s natural gas resources.

2.4. Previous Studies: Women's Security Index The Women’s Security Index (WSI)35 is an ongoing project, the product of a cooperation between six feminist NGOs36. WSI has developed a unique methodology for mapping changes in women's experiences regarding their safety and security, providing a source of data for activists, NGOs and policy makers. The 2012 WSI survey included interviews with more than 700 women, both Jewish and Palestinian. Research questions included: What are the elements that contribute to women’s sense of safety and security and what elements undermine it? How is women’s safety affected by their ethnicity, health, education, country of origin? Table No. 6 shows a summary rating of reported causes for feeling insecurity or pressure by Palestinian and Jewish women37. Table no. 6: Reported causes for feeling insecurity or pressure by Palestinian and Jewish women

                                                                                                                         34 Henriette Dahan Kalev, ‘Refusal and Resistance between Family and State: The Case of Vicki Knafo’, Where am I Situated? Gender Perspectives on Space, ed. by Roni Halpern (Even Yehuda: Reches, 2013), pp. 243 – 282 (p. 246) [Hebrew]. 35 http://women-security-index.org [Hebrew] 36 http://women-security-index.org/about-us [Hebrew] 37 goo.gl/PZ81eh [Hebrew, see page 3]

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According to The Women's Security Index 2013, Women who live in Israel experience great tension and a high sense of insecurity. 32% of Jewish women and 25% of Palestinian women (citizens of Israel) reported feeling stress almost constantly. When considering which factors undermined the confidence of Jewish women and Palestinian women in Israel, it turns out they share common characteristics. Women in both groups mentioned the possibility of an attack on a dark street and the fear of sexual assault on the basis of gender as factors that trigger significant lack of confidence and stress in their lives. In other words, they experience the public spaces as unsafe for women, and feel their bodies are exposed to potential sexual violence. These concerns are shared across ethno-national borders. However, Palestinian women are more likely than Jewish women feel insecure on basis of nationality. Israeli Palestinian women’s fear of losing their home, being deported or otherwise hurt by war, is ordered higher on their list of fears. It is interesting to note that the home is shared arena insecurity of Jewish and Palestinian women alike, but the source of this feeling is different. While Jewish women are afraid they will not be able to own home (because of lack of economic resources), Palestinian women are afraid to lose their homes (because of national conflict and war). It seems that while there are differences in sources of stress and anxiety for women from different groups, they share some common basic sense of insecurity, stemming from gender inequality, and not related to the military-security sphere, in the strict sense of the word.

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Dozens of Jewish and Arab women march near the Old City of Jerusalem at 2015 International Day Against Violence Against Women. (Uri Lenz/Flash90)

Palestinian women at a demonstration in 2012 protesting violence against women held at the spot where a woman's throat was allegedly slashed by her husband, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (AP/Majdi Mohammed)

3. Current Study Findings: The Framing and Reframing of Security

3.1. "What do I understand about it?!" - Untangling Women's Entitlement to Security Discourse

When introduced invitation to interview, my standard explanation was about our interest in how prospective interviewees view and experience security in their lives. Most initial reactions pronounced reservation, disfavor and puzzlement. Sometimes the most interesting conversations were in the process of achieving consent to the

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interview, directly with me or through a middle woman. It is worthwhile listening to some of the lines of thinking and underlying assumptions of women who do not want to engage in security talk. Amalya, the owner of a small house cleaning business does not want to be interviewed: "What security? Army…? Politics…? What do I understand about it?" Finally, she agrees to talk to me "just to find out what I mean". She engages me in a long conversation that ends up being the interview itself. Ela: The truth is that when I think about security, I think about security-security, what we know as "defense minister", army.. Sharon, a young clinical dietitian, is invited by a colleague of mine as I feel I need to include a Jewish religious women, and she tries to help. Sharon happens to be a qualitative research-methods new admirer. She just finished a qualitative research of her own in a very quantitative oriented work environment. She is very thankful to the women who cooperated with her and volunteered their time and insights and she is more than willing to "pass it forward" and help another qualitative researcher. Albeit, upon hearing the subject she asks to withdraw and passes me the message: "I am not the right person for this. Give me any other subject, maybe next time when you need an interviewee?" It is only after a direct phone call, to which she agrees without obligation, that she finally shows some curiosity as I say once and again: we are to find out what does security mean for you, and reassured her there is no hidden agenda other than learning from her. When we finally meet she elaborates on her hesitations and explains the confusion my invitation created for her:

Ever since our phone conversation I walked around with this security-security-security… It is somewhat confusing, especially in the context of the Middle East. I felt it mixes me up. Maybe security is walking in the streets of Jerusalem without fearing that someone will blow-up on me, or…. It confused me a little […] and also concepts from my professional world. I talk a lot with my patients about security. Where are their secure places in the world? And the places I intend for them to reach, and I strongly believe in – in my personal life, are first and foremost satisfaction of basic needs.

Why was my invitation so confusing for her?

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Violet, a social worker in the field of people with disabilities, wants to cooperate but starts off explaining why she is the wrong interviewee for the subject. Her illuminating explanation sums up a basic Israeli practice of living with fear and denying it (Ochs, 2011):

So, what do you mean when you say "security"? Because, if you mean army and all of that, I know nothing about it. More than that: I stay as far from it as I can. Even in "Tzuk Eitan"38, when my son was in Gaza, I was not even listening to the radio. What for? Anyway I cannot influence it, it just creates tension. My feeling is that this is way beyond my powers and out of my control. When it will happen – I will need to deal with it. I know this is something that might happen any minute. But it will paralyze me if I will think about it all the time. I do not let it take control. If you listen to the news, and there is always news, there is always something, and on each such "thing" they talk all day in the media – and it is too demanding. I am also not convinced what the truth behind all of this is. It just creates a constant tension.

Emily, an educator, agreed immediately to my interview invitation. She trusted me to "whatever you want to talk about" In her opening statement she pushed into a personal interpretation of "security" although still assures the dominant interpretation of security as state security. At the onset of the actual interview she starts:

Yes, I have already thought a lot about it. I am really curious to see what direction this will take. Because when you said "security", in the context of women and women's experience – I thought more about personal security, and not about political security or state security. Is this what you meant or not necessarily?

                                                                                                                         38 The 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, also known as Operation Protective Edge (Hebrew: ִמְבָצע Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, lit. "Operation Strong Cliff") was a military operation launched ,צּוק ֵאיָתןby Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The operation ended seven weeks later with a cease-fire agreement (Aug, 26th 2014).

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3.2. Times, places and life practices generating insecurity Like in previous studies, women of current study fear more or less the same set of threats:

- Public spaces (streets, neighborhoods, central bus station, Gas stations) – especially at dark

- Private spaces (home) – sexual, physical and emotional abuse by relatives. There is also great fear of losing home or not being able to own or continue owning a home - and the way the women talk about home we can hear that they are afraid to loose concrete and metaphorical place in the world. Their own place. See table no. 7 for main issues women of the study feel insecure about.

Table no. 7: Main issues women of the study feel insecure about

Other issues women of the study feel insecure about, less salient but still present and worth mentioning: 6. Death 7. Threats to one's identity 8. Losing a child in public space 9. School untrustworthy (worry for children's safety and future) 10. Theft 11. Sickness and disabilities 12. Children surfing Internet 13. Old age 14. Social repudiation of children

3.3. Times, Places and Life Practices Generating Security It is worthwhile listening to some stories depicting situations, people and places of security. All of the stories are very personal and may be understood within the context of the teller's life experience. Listen to three stories with three different logics of security:

- the internal self-reliance - the expectation and promise of family support - humane, border crossing personal interactions

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Internal self-reliance Isabel, an autodidact fashion artist, sees all her insecurity as a result of growing up with parents who could not nurture her nor protect her emotionally. Both her parents are holocaust survivors, who needed to work hard to make a living in Israel, and taught her that everything is dangerous. Everything, including being a strong women. Izabel was married to a violent man, who threatened her life, and after years of psychotherapy she left him, and with no formal education, nor any start-up capital - started a business. She straggles economically and feels insecurity in many areas of life, especially economic insecurity. In her own words:

The economic story is the central story. Let's just say, this is the main narrative. What else? Everything pales next to it, I do not know what to tell you. I can talk about physical security, but the truth is that everything pales beside this. That's the truth. I mean this as a very strong sun that burns everything. .. I never felt secured.

When I ask Isabel to recall what creates a feeling of security for her or when she feels more secure, she has two answers. She give me her general perception:

Now that I think about it, I think that maybe a feeling of security is built on reserves of all kinds. And not just financial reserves […] financial reserves are the obvious. But let's say I know I have internal reserves, that I can count on myself, that if I will need to shut down the studio, in the most simplistic way – I will be able to teach here or do that.. This is the kind of reserves I mean.

Her second answer relates more concretely to where she feels secured today: Where do I feel more secure? Today – only at home, in my bad. True security I never really feel. […] and not when I sleep. When I sleep I usually have terrible nightmares. But this is such a place, where I am in my own quiescence.

Expectation and promise of family support Some study participants see parents, grandmothers and spouses as explanation for the way they experience the world and for the reason they feel insecure. And as is well known family may be a complicated issue. Some participants, sometime the very same participants, also told me stories of family support, in which family is a source and anchor for feeling secured, safe and trusting. Emily, spent her youth years trying

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not to look as a girl, and was coping with being a lesbian in a non-supportive family. She recalls her grandmother:

My connection with my grandmother is the place that gave me security. My grandmother is not alive 12 years already, she passed away at the age of 93. But from the day I was born to her last day we were very close. I think she, precisely as someone who survived Auschwitz, was the person who gave me confidence and security in life, in myself. […] She asked me if I am a lesbian. Just like that, directly, using the word itself. No one before her got even close to the subject. My grandmother's home was my home. It was for me the safe place. It was a house that never chanced, it was always her house. I still walk by it many times, in Ramat-Gan. I always stay close to it. My parents moved into and out of apartments in Ramat-Gan, Petach-Tikva, Oranit – none of these apartments became "home" for me. My grandmother's house is my home. For years I walk around with her key on my key chain. I can't take it off. I am exactly like the Palestinians that… it is part of my identity. Grandmother'ss key:

When asked to elaborate on the grandmother's role she says:

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… She had always told me: as long as I live you have nothing to worry about. And this saying reflected my very deep feeling of acceptance by her. I really think she is the only person who gave me that feeling of unconditional acceptance, of something she saw in me that nobody else did. As if she really succeeded in seeing who I really am. This is the experience she gave me. Only she does not live anymore…

Humane, border crossing personal interactions In the group of Arab women, there was a general consent that although The Arab society in Israel may sometimes be harsh for women to live in, they still feel safer in their own communities than "among the Jews". However they also recalled some meaningful experiences "among the Jews", that may be summed up as human acts of kindness and connection. Siham once lost her youngest daughter of three at a city park in Haifa. My husband told one guard and literally in seconds the park was full of security guards looking for her… of course I was afraid and asked park visitors if they have seen my daughter, and people wanted to help. People told me they saw a little girl walking alone, I run in the direction they were pointing and found her quite far from where I lost her. .. I did feel some security when I saw all the guards looking for her, even strangers helped in the search. Of course I was warried for her, but I also felt a kind of security and calm because everyone was looking with us. Halima recalls a women she met at the maternity ward in the hospital. Halima was getting ready to deliver her first baby, and in the hospital met a young Jewish pregnant women who was waiting to have an abortion. We met one another and spoke and there was a beautiful feeling becaurse we became close. We were laughing and giggling together. This thing gave me a feeling of security. Another event happened in Hadera. A big tree branch fell right near where I was standing almost touching me. People who were there helped, asked me if I am ok. Their care made me feel safe and calm.

4. In lieu of conclusion: how do Israeli women of the research cope with issues of insecurity?

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Five main strategies of coping are found in the research materials. All strategies have been adopted by women of various backgrounds. Each strategy is exemplified here with experts of study participants interviews and group discussions: Personal responsibility women we met in this study had many ways of taking personal responsibility on the way they feel and process security: going to a psychologist, taking pills if necessary, hiding signs of femininity, hiding signs of nationality, sending daughters (or self) to self-defense courses, studying Buddhism and ways of relaxation, not believing news (about ISIS and Terror attacks), thoughts about immigration and – the most salient one – rationalizing and convincing oneself that either “there is nothing really to worry about” or “there is nothing I can do about it – so until something happens – I need to ignore the hazards”. Habiba: “At the end, only I can determine how much I can be influenced by things that happen around me. Because at the end just what is meant to be will happen by fate. So there is nothing to be afraid of, it will just put us in stress and unnecessary worries” Normalization Fabian, who grew up in the center of Tel-Aviv and witnessed a few terror attacks or was just around the corner from, tells me: “I did not grew up in a feeling of fear, even when we had to stay in school until five of six in the evening because of terror attacks, and even at the Gulf war, when we needed to come to school with masks against chemical weapon – there was no feeling of fear. Not at all. Even the war of 2014 felt normal” Faith-based support Liat, who also grew up in Tel-Aviv and, as we found up has quit similar childhood experience with terror attacks sees her survival as a miracle: “I missed a bus that was blown up in a terror attack, when I was 16, and I remember my belief got stronger” Social Support Sivan: “my dad was abusive, he was a drunk. So he came home one night real late, and I just remember there was a big fight in my parents' house. My mom, she didn't know who to talk to, she didn't know who to go to. So I called one of my friends and asked him to come, ‘cause I didn't know what else to do. He came and took us over to his house” Family Support – See section 4.3, subsection: Expectation and promise of family support for specific stories. This pilot study exposed Israeli women of all walks of life as strong, inventive, reflexive and well aware of their political, national, ethnic, economic and social

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situations. While they seem to manage rough situations very well – it is also clear they feel they need to create their own shelters from every-day hazards of life in Israel – whether physical, psychological, economic or other shelters. Israeli women of this pilot study may indicate strength on their part of Israeli society, but at the very same time they also expose current compromised ability of Israeli formal institutions to protect women, hear their concerns, develop proper mechanisms and services to answer these concerns and help women feel secure.

5. Appendix: Israel's well-being relative to OECD states

Figure 1.A.1. Relative well-being strengths and weaknesses, by country OECD. (2015). How’s Life? 2015, Measuring Well-Being. How’s Life? 2015: Measuring well-being. Paris. doi:10.1787/how_life-2015-en. P.52