Women's Rights
By Rabbi Allison Berry, 7/25/2018
When I was in second grade, I won an essay contest. The Jewish Agency asked young people across the country to respond to one question – what does Israel mean to you? In retrospect, my family should have understood this as a sign that I was destined to be a rabbi. But back in 1986, all I remember was my elation at winning the $200 prize. Last year, while cleaning out the basement I stumbled across my essay. The handwriting was something that only an eight-year-old girl could replicate, with hearts drawn in place of dots over the “I’s,” I wrote, “what Israel means to me is hope. Hope that... Read More
By Sylvia Levy, 5/17/2018
Just as each of us must work to end gender-based violence in our country and world, we are also responsible for challenging our own community – namely the Reform Jewish community – to address its own issues of sexual assault and harassment. I take inspiration from the brave Jewish women who are taking these problems in the Jewish community into their own hands, translating #MeToo into #GamAni, and bringing needed attention to the experiences of our community's survivors of assault and harassment. We must create ... Read More
By Dani Weisenthal, 5/10/2018
In my world, I cannot walk around at night without an escort. In my world, one in five American women and one in 71 men will be raped. One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18; one in five women and one in 16 men will be sexually assaulted on their college campus. These are not statistics. These are real people -- myself included. I’m 16 years old. I am already a strong advocate of racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s equality, and so much more. This is largely due to meeting, talking to, and learning from kids and teens who have the same... Read More
By Susannah Cohen, 4/29/2018
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time for us to reflect and re-educate ourselves on the unyielding problem of sexual assault. In the last few months, the #MeToo movement has shifted the national conversation towards the issue of workplace sexual harassment. While related, it is important to continue the discussion around sexual assault as its own issue, building on the awareness that has grown in the last few years. Campus sexual assault remains a pervasive problem and focus on it has reignited in response to troubling moves by Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. In order... Read More
By Susannah Cohen, 4/19/2018
On the day before this year’s Equal Pay Day (April 10th), the day when women's average earnings finally catch up to men's average earnings from the previous year, equal pay advocates received a gift: a favorable court decision. On Monday, April 9, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals released its unanimous decision for Rizo v. Yovino, ruling that employers cannot consider prior salary when determining an employee’s pay. This decision affirmed equal pay advocates’ claim that using prior salary to determine pay perpetuates the gender wage gap and thus violates the Equal Pay Act. ... Read More
Subscribe to