Gender change in the social-systemic arena

the legislators to honestly cope with the problems. The demand for rights by women is a political process (Ferguson, 1999) ongoing between stakeholders, power and knowledge, in other words, equal in value.

Therefore, the demand for change has dual poles:

a. Women will be aware of their rights and will develop tools to insist on their rights to realize their needs;

b. Society must develop the ability to properly formulate the rights according to the differential needs of women and men, and to develop a mechanism for their implementation (Jones and Gaventa, 2002).

The rights approach focuses on the personal and the formal arena (change in the municipal domain - see diagram in appendix no B item 1). This, and the 'needs approach' are at the personal level in both arenas, to be discussed as the arena of change in this study, one in which the mayoral advisor on the status of women has approval to act, from the researcher's point of view.

Society has experienced many changes in the female-gender context:

Women work outside the home, women have the right to vote, women study, women can obtain contraceptives, women even have the right to object to traditional female roles. Society however, has remained basically patriarchal. "In societies controlled by men, women feel that the father embodies subjectivity….the representative of the outside world, while the mother is the object that provides the needs.." (Strenger, 2005:35).

Our experiences are constructed of pairs of opposites (Watzlavick et al., 1979); each party in the reality is awarded its significance or uniqueness from the existence of its converse facet (such as light and dark). These two sides complement the same reality or belong to the same reference framework, and would seem to be contradictory. Women are the partners that complement men, but when these pairs of reality are awarded values they become independent identities despite describing a similar reality.

The men then become 'good, successful, strong…' and the women become 'less good, less successful, less strong..' to say the least.

The review to this point, from reading newspapers and observing daily life using receptive sensors, clearly indicates that the existing situation is unsatisfactory. This feeling of dissatisfaction was, in fact, the first change created by feminism. This recognition generated the first dissonance within the patriarchal harmony existing for many years, based and backed by social, religious and political ideology that developed theories and tools to preserve and replicate the situation.

Feminism, however, indicates the necessary foci of change some of which were implemented, but the fact that Women's Day is celebrated universally on the March 8^th is a statement that significant change has yet to occur.

Agreement exists of need for change besides an ongoing debate between the approach that views internal change as a lever for external change and the approach that supports external change that will have implications and affect personal change. These are dichotomous approaches that are not suitable to the feminist view and this researcher therefore believes in the need for parallel foci of change.

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The change functions at several connected foci despite the independent and separate operation of each focus according to the change diagram.⁷⁵ The motion is circular and bi-directional divided into

• Formal derivatives that include the government sector working to enact laws, amongst other things regarding the status of women. The State of Israel has, in fact, enacted some of the most advanced laws in the world in this regard, but its weakness is manifested in the lack of enforcement and proper application of the laws. The other formal sector is the municipal one (in which this researcher works), whose role, amongst other things, is to make services and rights accessible and to apply the relevant laws. The local authorities do not act from a gender agenda, and therefore the services and their accessibility are not conducted under a declared and systematic policy with a gender aspect.

• Informal derivatives that include the individual sector, in which systemic involvement occurs through leadership and empowerment courses, led by the advisor on the status of women in local authorities.

The second informal derivative in this domain is the personal-cultural sector, the most difficult of all. The State of Israel, as a state with a traditional and religious culture, does not enable a breakthrough in altering socializing codes and norms, and finds it hard to come to terms with liberal values, mainly those pertinent to marginal groups, including women.

Since the cultural derivative has an existential impact and structures the personal and collective identity, it is a serious brake and barrier to the other derivatives of change, while extending the time for implementing and realizing the change.

Naturally the focus in this study will be on the municipal arena and systemic change. This means change in the rules of the game or a new division of the resources and roles, i.e., dividing the foci of power differently. Organizational structures tend to reinforce the power of a limited group of role holders who are usually disinterested in forgoing the privileges of power.

The municipal arena is an ideal structure for change since (Status of women Canada 2004 a).

75 Appendix B item 1 is based on, and adapted by, the researcher from the work by Rao and Kelleher (2005) for the purpose of this study.

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1. The residential environment has immediate influence on the quality of the individual's daily life. The community belongs to the male and female residents alike.

2. Females and males are influenced and experience differently the municipal activities, since socialization and social norms afford women different roles and other areas of responsibility than they do men.

Reality teaches us that women are not sufficiently involved in municipal or national political activity, despite the fact that they are affected by it in all areas of life. By assuring their involvement in community life, and by meeting their special needs, local government can be a leading factor in attaining equality between the genders and this is one of the challenges we face.

Gender equality has been recognized as a basic principle in society. "The advancement of women and the achievement of equality between women and men are matters of human rights and conditions for social justice and should not be seen in isolation as a women’s issue. They are the only way to build a sustainable just, and developed society. Empowerment of women and gender equality are prerequisites for achieving political, social, economic, cultural, and environmental security among all peoples." (UN, 1995).

The process of systemic-social change, according to the paper-work, of the Canadian Women Status office ,Femmes et Ville, (2004 a), should be based on the following underlying assumptions:

1. Equality does not imply similarity – women do not become males and vice versa.

2. Every action, policy, project or trend affects males and females differently.

3. Constructive cooperation between males and females is essential.

4. Women should participate equally as agents of change at all levels – political, social, and economic. However it should be remembered that they encounter difficulties that hinder or prevent them from participating in urban political life such as.

a. The need to balance the work world and the family, especially for women with small children, leaving them less free time than men to become involved with political life. Their absence from the areas in which decisions are taken creates a situation in which their voices are not heard and the decisions taken are biased towards interests that are foreign to their basic needs.

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b. Most of the existing organizational structures perpetuate the stereotypical gender division of tasks (with women responsible for areas of education, welfare, health and so on).

c. The election method that blocks the entry of women into the political area and the absence of preventive steps such as the need to ensure their representation (placing women in unrealistic political party slots, not offering jobs connected to the elections, preventing their exposure, not looking for women for party lists and so on).

d. The lack of budget and financial sources for women interested in contending.

5. Special gender based analysis (GBA)⁷⁶ indices should be planned to eliminate gender inequality.

6. Empowering women is the key to the success of the process.

Local authorities in the State of Israel, particularly in the last decade, have been mainly responsible for the welfare of their residents as far as national services and local development were concerned (Rubinstein, 2004). In a combined and gradual process, not always planned, authority was delegated and responsibility transferred from the central government, that, together with local initiatives of the local authorities, created activity at the local, municipal level gradually expanded (Deri, 1994). This situation locates the municipal arena as important and central in leading social change.