[5] While Israel lacks an official constitution, the Israeli Declaration of Independence of 1948 states that “The State of Israel (…) will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.” Israeli law prohibits discrimination based on gender in matters such as employment and wages, and provides for class-action lawsuits.

The stated objectives of this committee are to prevent discrimination, combat violence against women, and promote equality in politics, lifecycle events and education.

She lamented the segregation of women in Israel at public universities, likening the practice to discriminatory "separate but equal" laws once applied to blacks in the United States.

The Israeli Supreme Court affirmed that marital rape is a crime in a 1980 decision, citing law based on the Talmud (at least 6th century).

[6] A major motivation for homicide in Israel is violence against women (including so-called "honor killings" in Muslim families).

[6] In 2013, Israel's attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, advised ministers across the government to end gender segregation in public spaces.

If implemented, the guidelines would change many aspects of daily life in Israel, where gender segregation is allowed on buses, at funerals, in health care and on radio airwaves.

[27] In Orthodox Judaism, there are certain situations in which gender separation is practiced for religious and social reasons, with strict rules on mingling of men and women.

Before they were banned in 2011, Mehadrin bus lines operated along routes with large Haredi populations, with seats in the front reserved for men passengers.

[28][29][30][31] In 2006, Miriam Shear, an American Jewish woman, claims she was attacked by ultra-Orthodox men after refusing to move to the back of the bus on a non-segregated line.

[32] Critics likened the “mehadrin” lines to racial segregation in the United States, with Shear compared to African American icon Rosa Parks.

[36] Similar problems with gender segregation have surfaced on airlines such as El Al, where ultra-Orthodox male passengers have pressured females to move, and planes have been delayed as a result.

The New York Times interviewed Anat Hoffman on the phenomenon of ultra-Orthodox males asking female passengers on airlines to move, noting that IRAC had started a campaign urging Israeli women not to give up their seats.

Other organizations, such as Ne’emanei Torah V’Avodah (NTA), protested that it is an Israeli custom to sing at national ceremonies and that extreme Jewish religious law should not be imposed on the general public.

[38][39] In 2017, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court ruled that employees of airlines could not request female passengers change their seats just because men wish them to.

[40] Since the establishment of the state, Israeli law gives jurisdiction for matters of personal status for Jews, including marriage and divorce, to the rabbinical courts.

[6] In 2010, Israel passed the Civil Union Law, allowing a few couples to marry and divorce civilly in Israel, with men and women enjoying equal rights[44] The Civil Union Law extends this right to only the very small minority of couples in which neither person is registered as a member of any religion.

Following her appeal, Israeli president Ezer Weizman, a former IAF commander, made chauvinistic comments that ridiculed the idea of women as fighter pilots: "Listen maideleh, have you ever seen a man knitting socks?

The Equality Amendment to the Military Service law, enacted in January 2000, completed the Supreme Court ruling as it defined the right of female soldiers to volunteer for combat professions.

"[60] The amendment drafted by female lawmakers granted equal opportunities to women found physically and personally suitable for a job.

[65] By 2006, the first female pilots and navigators graduated from the IAF training course, and several hundred women entered combat units, primarily in support roles, like intelligence gatherers, instructors, social workers, medics and engineers.

In 2003 Yaara Stolberg filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court against the IDF's decision not to allow women to serve in the Machbet anti-aircraft unit.

About six months after Stolberg completed her two-year mandatory military service, the court denied the petition, stating it has become "irrelevant and theoretical".

[68][69] In response to several incidents where Orthodox Jewish soldiers objected to women singing during military ceremonies, the IDF Chief of Staff's office ruled that soldiers may not walk out of military assemblies to protest women singing, but may request to be excused from cultural events on those grounds.

[70][71] In October 2011, female soldiers were asked to leave an official event marking the end of the Simhat Torah holiday and dance in a separate area.

In November 2011, 19 retired generals sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, urging them not to cave in to the demands of religious soldiers.

[6] An IMD survey published in 2012 ranked Israel in eleventh place out of 59 developed nations for participation of women in the workplace.

The Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women in the Prime Minister's Office grants scholarships for higher education for Druze, Bedouin, and Circassian female students in the country north.

WIZO was founded in England on 7 July 1920, and then opened branches throughout Europe and the Americas, and created well-baby clinics and clothing distribution centers in Mandatory Palestine, many still in operation today.

[83] We Power (עמותת כ"ן - כוח לנשים) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting women to leadership and decision-making roles in Israel.