One of our guides during a recent trip to Israel described a public debate over the extent to which the society is fair to women. He pointed out that women can retire with the same pension at age 62 versus 67 for men. Women serve 1-1.5 years less in the military (and are exempt from the draft altogether if they get married before age 18). Women who do serve in the military are exempt from reserve duty as soon as they become pregnant for the first time whereas men can be and are called up until the age of 40-50). “Women complain about their status but they never mention these advantages.”
Some of the advantages for women are limited to those who get married and/or have children. An Israeli attorney pointed out that a woman could simply marry at 18, have a few children, and then sue for property division, alimony (but maybe only from a rabbinic court? example; also see this one regarding a $90,000 one-time payment), custody, profitable child support (even if the children live with their father), etc. as soon as she was tired of her partner. Women are automatic victors in any custody lawsuit for a child under six (though this may be changing soon; compare to some European countries where women automatically win custody regardless of the age of the child[ren] and to U.S. states where the law is gender-neutral but the statistical probability of a child being with the father at least 50 percent of the time is less than 10 percent).
Israeli law has some built-in bias towards traditional family norms. Currently only a married heterosexual couple can hire a surrogate mother within Israel (that may be changing, however; see “AG: Single women should also be able to use a surrogate” for how single women (but not single men or gay male couples) may gain equal status in this area).
Women cite to the fact that Israel has a larger gender gap in pay than most other countries (OECD). [Note to investors: You can therefore make some staggering profits by setting up a company in Israel and hiring only women!]
Related
Presumptive joint custody may yet come to Israel, but the feminists are fighting it.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.727172
Note the description, “controversial bill”.
It is my understanding that all family law issues in Israel are in the purview of rabbinical (Talmud-letter observant) courts, essentially once “parceled out” by secular nation-father Ben Gurion to religious leaders for their support of the not-by-Messiah-given state of Israel (and no red heifer either!). So getting a divorce there is no simple, nor woman-friendly, matter (the child accoutrement may help though, as children are a woman’s work).
Do remember that conservative Judaism is pretty archaic AND patriarchal in its outlook, and thus “application” towards women–humans of a lesser “god” (my sole sources here are several documentary films on that topic of the last decade+… a near-staple on perennial Israeli Film Festivals, and quite daunting; confirm that with your guide).
ObFilmReference: “Kadosh” (1999) by Amos Gitaï, not to be missed
@ianf That is incorrect. The primary source of law in Israel in matters of family law is found both in common law and in statutes. Common law in Israel has its roots in English precedents. Today there is a greater impact of US common law. Statutory law in Israel is bifurcated into civil and religious law because Israel maintains a system of concurrent jurisdiction between religious and civil courts.
An Israeli attorney pointed out that a woman could simply marry at 18, have a few children, and then sue for property division, alimony …
If you looked into it, you’d probably find that the only people getting married at the age 18 are from the poorer communities. Thus there would be little income available to pay for alimony and child support.
@Vince: they don’t have that deal where younger women pursue more affluent older men in Israel?
superMike: What you’re referring to probably happens in nearly all developed countries. Though I still doubt that girls from the more prosperous, educated sectors of Israeli society would want to get married at 18 and start having kids. They might want to find boyfriends in their mid-twenties with good jobs to take them on vacations or whatever. But marriage at 18 is another matter altogether.
@SuperMike #5: if the potential take isn’t that great as in the USA, the incentives for selling oneself young to the oldest=richest bidder are smaller. Also, where gender is concerned, Israel is a far more egalitarian society than the convention-bound USA and the West. Being called up to do military duty just like the boys do (and Israel is a pretty militarized society, with armed soldiers traveling to and fro everywhere) also must do quite a lot to any young woman’s psyche.
P James #3 above claims that my #2 is incorrect, but gives no hint for his rebuttal (at least I based my impression on a range of documentary films, say 5 or 6 that I remember). I don’t live there, do not visit all that frequently, so I did a Phil-type ad-hoc poll of three by me known diaspora Israelis to find out: none recognized the claimed influence of the US common law; rather than go through the hurdles to marry in strictly-civilian ways (which apparently now is possible in theory, unlike earlier sole alternative to do it abroad, e.g. in nearby Cyprus), young secular couples choose to stay unmarried – the common law protection for division of property, even inheritance of unmarried deceased partner’s pension, is quite strong. Also Tel-aviv now is one of the more gay-friendly cities in the world, whatever that has to do with the issue. Other than that, the religious rules apply… if you had married within the Jewish faith, only the rabbinical court may grant a divorce, and they will review such applications in accordance with the body of commentaries in the Scriptures (good luck with arguing modern common sense there). These are not directly woman-friendly, though pay lip service to woman the sacred vessel for procreation type of thing. Similarly for other faiths, where e.g. old Ottoman laws may apply for the Druzes, and Catholic for Christians. Law statute-wise Israel is a mess, and not only where family law is concerned. But it is nowhere near the fair and balanced picture that P James attempted to paint (payback for this? If James now James-with-a-P.)
@ianf
I am not “James”.
I copied my post from this link: http://us.practicallaw.com/5-564-7346?source=relatedcontent#a966363
I used to sit on the board of a family law reform organization here in the US and have many Israeli friends some of whom are attorneys and confirmed there is a civil jurisdiction system for divorce in Israel, so you are not automatically subject to religious law if getting a divorce there.
Just to clarify my above post however, the vast majority of Israeli family law is derived from religious law. They do have a Family Court system, however, and a system of civil statutes.
Just to clarify further, there is no civil union provided under Israeli law, but there are civil codes applied to folks divorcing in Israel. If you want to get a civil marriage and are an Israeli, you have to do so outside of the country.
Also, nowhere did I say Israeli family law is fair or balanced. It is a backwards hodgepodge of religious tradition and early socialism, all bent on burdening the divorcing man with costs. Divorced fathers are responsible for all children’s expenses until the kids reach age 15 and there is pretty much no chance of getting custody of any sort for the father until the kids reach 6 years of age.