האדרת נשים!!!

The Role of Women in the Future of our Peoples
In Lisistrata, the famous play by Aristophanes written in
411 B.C. during the Peloponnesian War, we get a first
example of the power of women when they unite. We also get
the proof that women are pacifist at core. Women hold in
their hands the future of humanity. Nevertheless, they have
been oppressed by patriarchal society throughout history. 50
percent of humanity, half of its energy, has been denied any
sort of rights: in the family, at work or in politics.

Two examples: even though women do most of the work in the
household plus working outside to provide a living for the
family, their income today is 30 percent less than a man's,
there are very few women members of parliament (between 8
and 10 in the Knesset) and very few General Directors of
companies. In 1995 the U.N. evaluated the value of women's
unpaid work at home around the world as 11 trillion U.S.
Dollars!

The second example is the right to vote. The first women to
get voting rights were those of New Zealand in 1893, but
without the right to be elected. At the beginning of the
20th Century and until the end of WWI a number of countries
accorded voting rights, also under the pressure of the
Suffragette Movement who pressed petitions, organized
demonstrations, went to prison and held hunger strikes in
the U.K. The story goes that the colors of their flag were
green, white and violet because they created the initials
GWV: give women votes! The last to accord voting rights were
France in 1944, Switzerland in 1971 and Saudi Arabia this
year (only for municipal elections.)

But before we reach any conclusion, let's have some more
history. The main break-through for women's liberation
occurred in the West, during WWII, when women took man's
place in industry and business while he was at war. This
change increased women's self-esteem and liberated them from
the traditional roles. It also gave them a sense of
competence. Two more changes were the invention of household
appliances that reduced the length of household chores such
as cleaning, washing and cooking and left more time for
outside activities and the invention of birth control
devices that accorded woman control of her life and the
ability to decide when to have a child.

Moreover, the real big progress for women was in the
fifties, with the emergence of The Humanistic Psychology of
Rogers and Maslow. The need for self-fulfillment was
recognized and The Feministic Movement for woman's
emancipation was founded. Still, tradition is holding woman
back and does not allow woman decide upon her own fate.
Gender equity has not been achieved yet, neither in the
family, nor at work and in politics.

Israel and Palestine are democratic countries and have
accorded voting rights to women right from the beginning,
though there was rabbinical opposition which cited the line
כבוד בת מלך פנימה line that expects a woman to be modest and
uninvolved in public activities. Nevertheless, in both
countries we get examples of women being exploited and
underpaid, battered and even murdered by their brothers and
husbands for family honor. At least 14 women a year are
murdered by their husbands in Israel. This year, so far, 17
women were killed in this way...

Furthermore, violence is present in every domain of our
lives, under many shapes that culminate in war. What can be
done to restore peace and serenity in the Middle East and
make it once more the cradle of civilization, the haven that
can contribute to the education, science and culture of the
world? I say, the key is in woman's hands!!!

How? Man, in order to be forgiven for years of oppression
and abuse, must begin to respect woman, recognize her
enormous potential and accord her equality. He should also
allow her liberty and the right to fulfill herself
individually, professionally and politically.

Woman, at her turn, should forgive man and bring him and her
sons under the umbrella of a noble ideal: PEACE! All women
should unite in the name of this ideal, because their power
in unity is tremendous and their energies are infinite, like
in the play: "Lisistrata". Peace can be their spiritual
baby, who would develop and thrive in their collective womb
and give birth to a utopia.

But women have the key to the future of humanity in their
individual wombs as well. The 'quality' of their children is
determined by the conditions of their pregnancy and by the
future mothers' thoughts and prayers. If women wish for a
peacemaker child, they will shape him/her this way. If they
are given appropriate conditions, such as a quiet, esthetic
and supportive environment, in addition to proper health
care and healthy food, the baby will be born happy,
intelligent and talented. He/she will inevitably become a
peacemaker!

Therefore, the government should build picturesque resorts
for pregnant women. This will reduce security expenses, and
budgets of courts of law, jails, hospitals and special
education. The new generation will create a peaceful society
that will cherish the value of life, a life together in full
cross-cultural understanding.

Another means of uniting our two peoples in peace, that
involves men and women alike, is the contemplation of mixed
marriages. Romeo and Juliet's moral shows that love can
overcome enmities. Their enemy parents got reconciled only
after sacrificing their loving beloved children. Why make
the sacrifice first and then peace? The more mixed marriages
the less reason to fight against your own family, though we
are all Abraham's sons, and God's sons from the beginning.

We are one people, we breathe the same air, we eat the same
food and we emerge from the same landscape. Nobody is going
anywhere so let's listen to our women and to their maternal
instincts and make peace!

30.12.2011