respective societal contexts. These organizations are dealing with capacity building, economic empowerment, advancing women’s representation in decision-making processes and the assessment of gender issues in budgetary policies. Furthermore, the foundation sees gender democracy as a cross cutting issue that needs to be reflected in the overall work and in each of the projects the foundation supports.
- This newly published report by the Israel office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation is a first of its kind in-depth exploration of the contemporary feminist movement in Israel. The report focuses on Jewish and joint Jewish-Palestinian feminist organizations in Israel and includes a mapping section of 46 organizations (available in Hebrew only) and an analysis of the trends and characteristics of the feminist NGO field in Israel (available in Hebrew, English and Arabic). more»
Gender Politics Makes a Difference - Experiences of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Across the World – Politics can only succeed when it is inclusive of all genders. Gender justice is an ambitious goal, one that the Heinrich Böll Foundation is pursuing together with many different allies worldwide. This publication gives an overview of their work. more»
Gender Mainstreaming – Possibilities and Limits of a Radical Social Concept – Gender mainstreaming is, at its core, a radical socio-political concept for achieving gender equality and equal opportunity. Barbara Unmüßig explores its development – and the difficulties encountered. more»
- On Saturday night, August 1st, a masked gunman walked into the “youthbar” - a social youth program run by the Tel Aviv LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) association - lifted an automatic machine-gun and began shooting aimlessly and killing two people, and wounding ten others before fleeing into the night. more»
The "Women Demand Mobility" project was initiated by Kayan – Feminist Organization, a group of feminists who aim to advance the status of women in the Arab minority in Israel. more»
Itach Maaki - Women Lawyers for Social Justice: Itach-Maaki’s project Women's Voices = Women's Impact works enhance diverse women’s equal participation and full involvement in all aspects of public life and policymaking in Israel by enforcing Amendment 4 to the 1951 Women's Equal Rights Law in Israel. This law broadens UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security to include social issues in addition to matters of war and peace and stresses the importance of the inclusion of women from diverse communities.
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Kayan - Feminist Organization: Kayan's project JUSUR supports grassroots Arab women's initiatives in towns and villages all over Israel that improve women's lives in tangible and specific ways. The project trains and encourages the leaders of these groups, provides mentoring and opportunities for exchange between them, and contributes financial resources.
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Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance is supported this year with their public advocacy campaign: Gender Democracy in the Jewish Conservative Momement. With this campaign, the Jerusalem Open House intends to foster gender democracy in the Jewish Conservative Movement, as part of the organization's overall mission of advancing a society more accepting of diversity. In working towards this goal the JOH aims to create and participate in coalitions that advance a LGBT inclusive social justice agenda. Specifically, the stated objective is to convince Schechter (the Rabbinical School of the Conservative Movement) to accept LGBT people to its Rabbinical program in Israel, as its counterparts in North America already do.
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The Working Group for Equality in Personal Status Issues: The Working Group is launching the second phase of a multi-stage raising awareness campaign to challenge the phenomenon of polygamy (the marrying of multiple wives) in Palestinian society in a project titled Targeting Polygamy in the Palestinian Community. Despite the existence of civil legislation to restrict it, polygamy is still prevalent across the Palestinian minority in Israel, and is often given widespread legitimacy, even with the social, psychological and financial damages it incurs on families. The Working Group's campaign will seek to challenge the very discourse surrounding polygamy in the community through public awareness activity on the national level. Coming on the heels of a year-long research phase into the many attitudes towards polygamy across Palestinian society, the second phase will involve a 'campaign to change minds', based on large-scale public events, wide-scale print media publicity, outreach events, public lectures, and articles in the national press.