Text Panel
As in European society as a whole, Zionist political activity was on the whole the domain of men. Although women did receive voting rights at the Zionist Congress much earlier than they received them in most countries around the world, positions of leadership remained inaccessible to them. In 1925, women were also given the right to vote for the institutions of the Yishuv (Jewish community in Palestine).
Nonetheless, and despite declarations that sung the praises of gender equality, the status of women remained inferior to that of men in he-Halutz (Pioneer settlement movement) and in the Yishuv in general, as well as the kibbutzim. Consequently, women established separate organizations, including Hadassah (1912), WIZO (Women’s International Zionist Organization) (1920) and the Working Women’s Council (1921).
