Which Side of the Wall?

In the Middle East, you would expect to hear of women being told that they shouldn’t have the vote, or run for public office. But would you expect that story to be coming out of Israel?

The group photo of Binyamin Netenyahu and his cabinet may look harmless enough, but it’s proved too much for two Israeli journals, where the two women members have been airbrushed out. Here is the story as reported in last Saturday’s Guardian.

As one commentator noted, the ultra orthodox sector in Israel “ ... does not believe that women should have a public life, or even vote”.

I personally found the phrase “creeping religiosity” worrying, but that, ultimately, is the business of Israel and its citizens.

But it shows that antediluvian attitudes towards women are not confined to only one of the Abrahamic religions.