Israel and Human Rights: Gender Equality
Israel and Human Rights: Gender Equality
Ya'acov Yisrael
JUS 399
Spring 2012
University of Arizona
Outline
I. Introduction Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
II. Legal Status of Women in Israel
Israel’s Declaration of Independence
Basic Laws
NGO’s
III. Marriage and Divorce
Concluding Observations
State Reports
IV. Critique of Observation
V. Conclusion
Introduction
Women make up close to fifty percent of the workforce in Israel, yet are paid an average of only sixty-two percent of men's salaries and women also constitute seventy percent of those earning minimum wage or less.1 The Orthodox religious monopoly over marriage, divorce, and other issues of personal status impinges on the rights of Jewish women to marry whomever they choose or obtain a divorce without their husband's consent.2
The hallmark of any enlightened, free and democratic state is evidenced by its treatment of minorities. Women are perhaps the ultimate minority in the world because, ironically, account for fifty percent of the population. A 2012 estimate shows world population of women versus men to be 1.0 female to 1.01 males,3 while in Israel at the end of 2009, there were 3,816,900 women (50.5%) and 3,735,200 men.4
The United Nations Human Rights Council in its seminal document The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “…the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world….”5 In attempting to set forth a document outlining basic human rights such as, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex…,”6 it does not present a clear definition of
Ya'acov Yisrael
JUS 399
Spring 2012
University of Arizona
Outline
I. Introduction Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
II. Legal Status of Women in Israel
Israel’s Declaration of Independence
Basic Laws
NGO’s
III. Marriage and Divorce
Concluding Observations
State Reports
IV. Critique of Observation
V. Conclusion
Introduction
Women make up close to fifty percent of the workforce in Israel, yet are paid an average of only sixty-two percent of men's salaries and women also constitute seventy percent of those earning minimum wage or less.1 The Orthodox religious monopoly over marriage, divorce, and other issues of personal status impinges on the rights of Jewish women to marry whomever they choose or obtain a divorce without their husband's consent.2
The hallmark of any enlightened, free and democratic state is evidenced by its treatment of minorities. Women are perhaps the ultimate minority in the world because, ironically, account for fifty percent of the population. A 2012 estimate shows world population of women versus men to be 1.0 female to 1.01 males,3 while in Israel at the end of 2009, there were 3,816,900 women (50.5%) and 3,735,200 men.4
The United Nations Human Rights Council in its seminal document The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “…the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world….”5 In attempting to set forth a document outlining basic human rights such as, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex…,”6 it does not present a clear definition of