An interesting Forward article discusses “what feminism can teach jewish organizations.” I particularly liked this bit:
A nationwide study released recently by Ma’yan: the Jewish Women’s Project, “Listen to Her Voice,” reveals that feminism has had a transformative effect on the Jewish community over the last 30 years. Respondents to the survey were not only thrilled with the many changes that have occurred … the ordination of women as cantors and rabbis, unprecedented access to learning and sacred texts, women’s leadership on the bimah and in the boardroom … but they also believe that there would have been little to hold their interest in the Jewish community without these changes.
Many of the women reported leading their families to synagogues in which they could be counted as full participants. Others note the sweeping effects that feminism has had on Jewish theology, liturgy and ritual over the last three decades. One would hardly know it from the rhetoric of most of the organized Jewish community, but without feminism, Jewish continuity today would be much more seriously jeopardized than it is. Feminism has given many women and men a reason to again be involved Jewishly.
So that all sounds good. But, on the other hand:
Is that good enough? Can a community that purports to value families and the rearing of children above all else offer no paid parental leave to most of its employees? Is it feasible that Jewish women … who are the most highly educated women in America and who, according to numerous studies, are also singularly dedicated to the Jewish community … are unqualified for positions of leadership in the Jewish community? If feminism has transformed Jewish religious life in just 30 years, might it not have an equally powerful contribution to make to the communal world?
How might we transform this reality? We can begin by simply listening to what Jewish women are saying. Nearly half the women surveyed by Ma’yan reported being discriminated against in the Jewish community on the basis of gender. Forty-two percent have experienced pay inequity. Roughly two-thirds believe that women are underrepresented as communal leaders. Only three in 10 feel that they “often” have a way to make their voices heard about issues of local concern to them.
It is odd, because if you ask most Orthdoox Jewish women, especially the more traditional women, they have never felt disempowered. I am not saying that all Orthodox Jewish women feel that way, but the more traditional they are, the less they feel as if they are lacking something.
Does that make sense to you?(and yes, I am speaking from personal experience.)
It makes sense to me, Rachel Ann. One thing to consider here, I suspect, is that people who feel disempowered by their upbringing or culture — whatever that culture may be — are also the ones the most likely to drift away from it or divorce themselves from it as they get older. In my experience, at any rate, it is generally among the EX members of any given group that you hear the most bitter complaints about disempowerment. Those who do not feel themselves to be particularly disenfranchised are also the people most likely to continue to identify themselves as members of the group.
So while I don’t find it particularly surprising to read that “nearly half the women surveyed by Ma’yan reported being discriminated against in the Jewish community on the basis of gender,” neither do I find it at all difficult to believe that many Orthodox Jewish women don’t feel disempowered, or that the more traditional they are, the less likely they may be to feel that way. To put it really bluntly, if you’ll forgive me for doing so, women who don’t care for the prescribed gender roles of Orthodoxy are also probably the most likely to assimilate, after which they would no longer either identify or register as the “more traditional” members of the community.
Indeed, the phenomenon that Elkins describes is one of the key arguments in favor of a pluralistic and diverse society. There are women who will be happy in an Orthodox Jewish community. There are women who will be happy in a secular feminist community. And add about thirty million other example combinations of social circumstances, mores, and norms.
To maximize the happiness of the members of a society, simply make the society’s universal values be an acceptance of people’s right to self-determination and an acceptance that there will be a wide range of diverse social groups in existence. Then people will sort themselves out and the average level of happiness will be quite high.
Unfortunately, there are people from many perspectives who find such a state of affairs intolerable. It’s an OUTRAGE that there are women who want to raise children and submit to a husband’s leadership; they must be freed! It’s an OUTRAGE that there are women who want to live independent lives and be the head of their own household; they must be brought into line! And so on.
People who think their social arrangements are the only ones acceptable for other people pose the true danger to pluralism and, by extension, happiness.
If there are any feminists who actually feel that way, I suspect they’re pretty marginal. Some feminists may find the idea sad or bizarre (not the raising of children, the submission to hubby’s leadership), but as long as the woman is able to leave if she wants to, I find it hard to imagine anyone saying “she must be freed.”
The issue, for feminists, might be “does she have the social support and resources to leave IF she wants to?”
Elkins; you are most likely correct. Those who are happy, well they are happy. I do want to point out, Robert, that most of the Orthodox women I know do NOT submit to their husbands leadership. That isn’t part and parcel of the relationship. It does, I concede, exist in some relationships, but for the most part, the women I know are strong minded, and equal partners. And Ampersand, you would be surprised, pleseantly I hope, at the sources available to women who “want to get out of it.”
Whether or not they submit to their husband’s leadership, Rachel Ann, they are subject to their husband’s desire to be married or not; there’s no way for an Orthodox woman to divorce her husband, for example.
That said, Elkins is right: women who find the traditional role of women empowering, whose husbands respect their separate role, and so on, are of course likelier to remain Orthodox than woman who aren’t happy in that. It’s not as though there is an Orthodox pope who can excommunicate you, and at any rate, there are many flavors of Orthodoxy (as I’m sure you know).
You are correct Mythago, regarding a divorce, and various Rabbi’s are looking into ways to rectify the solution. (just google Rabbi Riskin, my Rabbi, and divorce…Rabbi Riskin is very unique). I also have a problem with the agunah situation in Judaism. (A man gives the divorce. Men too, can get “stuck” in a marriage if the woman refuses to allow a divorce, but they have an out that the women don’t have–get a hundred Rabbis to agree and the divorce is given against her will). I do believe there will be a Torah solution, I pray it comes soon. This is a stain on us in the meantime (that any woman would be forced to continue in a marriage in name only)
Of course, the problem of not being able to receive an (Orthodox) Jewish divorce in only relevant if the woman wishes to receive a subsequent Orthodox Jewish marriage. Nothing is preventing the woman from going to City Hall and getting divorced and re-married to anyone she wants.
So, while the system is inherently unfair, it is only unfair to those who choose to remain within the system.
Of course, the problem of not being able to receive an (Orthodox) Jewish divorce in only relevant if the woman wishes to receive a subsequent Orthodox Jewish marriage.
No. If the woman remarries, her children are mamzerim, i.e., illegitimate, and their participation in many aspects of Jewish religious life can be affected.
And your comment about city hall is correct for women who live in the US.
Many (all?) Conservative Jews I know write pre-nups specifically to cover this, usually giving huge financial penalties (10k/day) if the partner won’t give a Jewish divorce (I believe this is following the civil divorce, but I forget the details).