Judging By Israel, Women Have It All

This September, an historical event occurred in Israel. The nation's Supreme Court placed its first female judge, Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch, at its helm.

By Karin Kloosterman

Israeli feminists and lawyers agree that Justice Beinisch has joined the ranks of the world's most influential women including America's Condoleezza Rice, France's rising political star Segolene Royal and Canada's very own Supreme Court chief, Justice Beverly McLaughlin.

Justice Beinisch, known best for her Giuliani style, no-holds-barred approach to law enforcement, and her passion for women and child welfare law, has already made headways on the Israeli political scene: recently using her authority to demand the state immediately reinforce schools in the Israeli city Sderot against the ongoing Palestinian-fired kassam rockets.

Israeli feminists and lawyers laud her appointment as Israel's first woman to head the courts. But the Israeli mainstream press gave a mere mention of the fact that Justice Beinisch was of the female persuasion.

"The view of this appointment as 'normal' is remarkable in itself," writes Kenneth Bob, National President of Ameinu, a progressive American-Israeli social justice organization. "It is the built-in liberalism of the Israeli society," Bob suggests, as the reason why Beinisch's appointment "generated very little focused press."

Daphna Hacker, a civil rights lawyer for women who works at Tel Aviv University and at Itach, an organization which gives free legal representation to women, offers another reason why: Women are simply commonplace in the Israeli legal system.

"Israel has the highest percentage of judges who are women compared to any other country," says Hacker, offering the shorter work day in courts as the reason. "Israeli women don't have to compromise. They can have both a career and family."

Hacker's mother, also a lawyer, happened to be Justice Beinisch's mentor early-on in Beinisch's career.

"Beinisch's appointment," says Hacker, "is an important signal for the recognition of women's contribution to the legal field. As today in Israel, more than half of the law students are women.

"And Dorit is a fine example as a role model," adds Hacker, "especially because of her work in the public sector, first working as the Attorney General."

Most importantly, will be Beinisch's contribution to the evolution of Israeli law, which is now entering a unique saga in history, says Hacker. The United Nations has passed a resolution that says all nations of the world must bring women into political committees dealing with war and peace. Justice Beinisch, Hacker expects, will be a good choice to seeing this new law is enforced.

"Hopefully Beinisch will be very determined in telling the government, that in any peace process [Israel is involved in] we will need to have women on board."

And, "of course this will enhance Israel's image in the world," says Hacker. "Just look at France to see the potential of what women can be with their new socialist candidate Segolene Royal who is visiting Israel right now."

Days before Royal was in Israel, Justice Beinisch told the state, "Schools are your responsibility. Dozens of kindergartens are still unprotected," she said. "It is unacceptable that schools have to be closed due to [rocket] attacks. The fact is that peoples' lives are in danger."

Born in 1942, Justice Beinisch succeeds Justice Aaron Barak; and as her mentor, is expected to adopt his judicial-activist approach.

From 1976 to 1982 Justice Beinisch managed the Department of Petitions to the Supreme Court of the Office of the Attorney General; from 1982 to 1988 she served as Assistant Attorney General and in 1989 she was appointed Attorney General.

During this period she served as head of the General Prosecution department and was responsible for representing the State of Israel in the various law courts, as well as providing legal advice to the state authorities. In December 1995 Beinisch was appointed to the Supreme Court and in September 2006 was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Courts.

She is a married mother of two.

"Dorit is the latest and most successful of a stream of woman jurists who have become dominant in the Israeli legal system," said government consultant and onetime journalist David Nordell.

"Law [in Israel] has for a long time been a profession with very strong female representation, and especially so in the civil service, whether in the State Attorney's office, legal advisers to ministries, judges and so on," added Nordell.

In her capacity as Supreme Court Chief, Beinisch has already started implementing plans to shave down the number of Supreme Court hearings in Israel and focus only on major legal battles.

Beinisch is working with "the theory that justice delayed is justice denied," said Laura Goldman, a financial advisor, journalist and feminist, who is part of a committee to encourage Israeli women to run for President.

"Beinisch has presented proposals to streamline the court and reduce the amount of cases that the Supreme Court hears from 12,000 to 3000," added Goldman, who worked on Wall Street for 25 years.

But, "the biggest surprise in the appointment of Beinisch," Goldman added, is the way that Chief Justice Beinisch ascended to the top job. She was not a trailblazer or intellectual heavyweight. She simply followed in the steps of her mentor Aaron Barak."

Sharon Shenhav is a well-known women's rights lawyer who trained in the US and moved to Israel 27 years ago. Today she is the director of the International Jewish Women's Rights Project. A celebrity lawyer of sorts in Israel, Shenhav is known for her fight against liberating "agunoth' - Jewish women who are not granted religious divorces from their husbands.

In terms of women's rights and pregnancy laws, Israel has a "host of very liberal laws," said Shenhav, who doesn't know enough about Canadian Law to make a comparison. "The laws in Israel are excellent, and certainly advanced in terms of those in the United States."

And Beinisch, said Shenhav, is a perfect role model for young women. "She is a mother and has been all of her career. Her rise to the top of the law system is characteristic of what women can be in the Israeli society.

"Women in Israel don't compromise. Israel is a model society for combining family and career. When women see other women in positions of power, it proves to them they can do it."

One Israeli woman, Sandy Barkan now retired, has spent nearly her entire career working in the Israeli legal system. Canadian-born Barkan, originally from Toronto found no problems rising to a top position in Israel's Supreme Court where she worked for 17 years, eventually directing Public Affairs for the Chief Justice's office. She ended her career as CEO for the Office of the State Comptroller.

"Being a woman really never stood in my way as a professional in Israel," said Barkan, a mother of four. "I have always been thankful for that."