Women in Israel : a state of their own /

This is a very important work on the legal context of gender and women's issues in Israel. Encyclopedic in scope and concisely written and well supported, the facts and details about women's statuses and roles depict a typically patriarchal society in which women struggle to achieve equality and recognition. Israeli statehood and democracy interweave pioneering socialism with religious and Middle Eastern traditionalism. Therefore, women--whether Jewish, Arab, or Druze, local or foreign, citizen or not--face problems of abuse, exploitation, harassment, and economic disparity that are only partially compensated by improvement in legislation, law interpretation and enforcement, and public awareness. Family law and marriage, mostly under religious jurisdiction, are particularly problematic because the main ethno-religious communities clearly favor male dominance in initiating marriage and divorce and recognize greater male rights in extramarital interaction. Haperin-Kaddari (law, Bar-Ilan Univ.) tries to maintain an objective perspective while engaging the many issues, but often fails. Her interpretations and side comments are nuanced by feminist theory, and she often passionately argues her perspective. Extremely valuable for nonprofessionals seeking a broad overview on women in Israel, professionals and scholars will find much of value here. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels and libraries. L. D. Loeb University of Utah