Over 80 girls of the YWP project from both Arab and Jewish towns (Beit Jan, Yarka, Herzliya, Bat Yam, Kfar Saba and Tzafit) have arrived on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2018 at the Israeli Knesset. They were accompanied by their instructors, their towns’ gender advisors and activists from Shin NGO (for equal representation for women), which is the force behind YWP along with local municipalities. The girls took part in discussion of the committee on the status of women and gender equality, chaired by head of the committee, MP Aida Touma Sliman, and in meetings held in Sprinzak hall in three sessions.
The committee discussed women’s homicide. During the discussion, MP Touma-Sliman has reproved one of the speakers for using the term family honor killing, and held her ground that such a poor expression serves to disguise the fact that murder has nothing to do with honor.
Half of the girls gathered on the first session in Sprinzak hall, while the other half entered the committee discussion. The session was held by Anat Livnat, chairwoman of the gender advisors association and a director at Shin NGO, who has described the YWP project and the significance of Knesset visits. The discussion focused on the importance of acknowledging the high potential of integrating women and girls into public and political spheres. It also addressed the issue of women being underrepresented, and the struggle to expand the representation of women from different sectors in decision-making positions. Another issue discussed thoroughly was the option of a women’s political party.
The second session was held with the other half of the girls. They have shared their impressions of the committee and the discussion they had witnessed. They expressed their disappointment with the state of much talking and few actions, with no real progress as it comes to women homicide prevention (they addressed the police helplessness particularly).
The third session consisted of all the girls gathered in Sprinzak hall with MPs coming to speak to them. The MPs were Michal Biran, Aliza Lavi and Aida Touma-Sliman.
MP Biran has shared her way of running for parliament through running for the youth duty in the Labor party (she was the first female candidate for the office). She has also addressed the issue of gender separation and has carefully directed her words towards the Druze girls and gender advisors present.
MP Lavi has shared her legislative actions for women. One of the Arab girls asked her about paid maternity leave and claimed that the extension for maternity leave – beyond 15 weeks – is not paid. MP Lavi has furtherly discussed the importance of extending the former maternity leave (from 12 to 15 weeks), and continued to describe the state in other countries, especially in Scandinavia, and mentioned that “Austria has a 30 months paid maternity leave”.
The girl’s assertive stance with the MP was impressive and has drawn the attention of Esther Herztog, who told her she now has to run for parliament and change (maternity leave) legislation herself. The girl came up to Hertzog afterwards, noted how excited she was to hear her encouraging words, and said she would indeed run for parliament.
MP Touma-Sliman was greeted with grand applause into Sprinzak hall. When someone has complimented her strength, she replied by saying she felt exhausted. Heidi Moses, a lobbyist and daughter of United Torah Judaism chair, has brought up the tension by joining the room and giving remarks to MP Touma-Sliman while she was speaking with the girls. MP Touma-Sliman has invited the girls to ask her questions about what they want to know. Some of the questions addressed the issue of marriageable age, and the MP explained the marriageable age is now 17 since it is when girls are no longer considered underage. She continued to say this serves as a mean of pressuring young girls to quit their education and enter the role of family rearing and motherhood. Girls, she claimed, should finish their high school, graduate and acquire skills that will open better occupational opportunities for them and allow them to have a better life.
After the Knesset visit, the girls went to the Women Waging Peace camp, set in front of the Knesset. The women welcomed them and the girls described their feminist activism in their hometowns.