WUNRN
ISRAEL-JERUSALEM - WOMEN CAMPAIGN
AGAINST ULTRA-ORTHODOX PRESSURE TO REMOVE WOMEN'S IMAGES FROM ADS, BILLBOARDS
Women in
Jewish women in the
The New Israel Fund (NIF) is planning to
compile the photographs into posters to display in
Similar
posters of Israeli women are being displayed by Yerushalmim, an organisation
opposed to religious extremism and gender segregation which is
funded by the NIF.
The appeal to British and
American Jewish women is to show "this struggle is not just waged by the
women of
Its appeal follows pressure from
extremist ultra-orthodox, or Haredi, Jews on advertisers to remove images of
women.
Among the companies which have
complied is the Israeli fashion brand Honigman, which cropped a female model's
head from its
Ohad Gibli of the Canaan
advertising agency, which launched a campaign to attract organ donors using
only images of men, told Israel Army Radio: "We have learned that an ad
campaign in
Opponents say images of women
have been almost eliminated in
The email continues: "When
the advertisers eliminate images of women, they reinforce a world view in which
women must be hidden, where women can't have any meaningful role outside of the
home. That's what happens when religious extremism overwhelms basic
freedoms."
Shira Ben-Sasson Furstenberg of
the NIF, who describes herself as liberal orthodox, said: "We're
experiencing a snowball effect. And we can't say that the only people being
affected are Haredi, because it's not only Haredi women – and even the Haredi
women don't want it."
The secular
mayor of
Extremist ultra-orthodox groups
have also demanded the segregation of women and men on public transport and
separate hours, entrances or queues at supermarkets, post offices and medical
centres.