Jerusalem Women Declare Victory in Billboard Battle — For Now
Image by haaretz
Some 18 months after a group of activists began fighting the exclusion of women from billboards in Jerusalem, the fighters have declared victory.
Image by haaretz
One of the centerpieces of Wednesday’s Jerusalem Day holiday has always been the Jerusalem March.
When the city advertised it two years ago, it did so with an illustration rather than pictures of actual people, just as it did with many other advertisements at that time.
Last year, a woman did appear in ads for the Jerusalem marathon, but only behind a man, and in some of the ads she was cut off entirely. Yet in ads for this year’s Jerusalem marathon, which took place in March, a woman in running clothes was front and center.
Model Bar Refaeli has also begun appearing on billboards in the capital, after years of absence. Women have similarly shown up in ads for health clubs, clothing and theater performances. A few of these ads have been vandalized, but so far, it looks as if the women are here to stay.
Nevertheless, several activists said, the feminist battle in the city still has a ways to go.
“The issue of excluding women is a result of growing religious extremism,” said city councilwoman Rachel Azaria.
For more, go to Haaretz
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
