User:Jordanstern23/sandbox

Article Evaluation: Women's Equal Rights Law of Israel (1951)
This article could use a lot of work. The first section is unorganized and doesn't provide a clear understanding nor background on the law. It goes on a tangent about how Israel's definition of "equal" is different from that of the United States and provides a quote from "feminist intellectual Catherine MacKinnon" that fails to successfully further the reader's understanding. There isn't enough information about the law itself or about how it fits into the context of the Israeli legal system. Is it a "basic law" or something else? It then briefly mentions the army, but does not provide enough context to clarify the connection.

The Origins section fails to provide the context that was missing in the introduction. It does not elaborate on how the law differs from the Declaration of Independence nor does it describe the history of how and why the law came to be passed. It goes through all of the articles, although I think the wording could be improved and clarified. The link to the original PDF does not work. The Legacy section is also pretty lacking and could use stronger, more detailed examples.

The article is pretty neutral, although it is not very well-written and had some grammatical errors. For example, ending a sentence with "that they would qualify for" is not grammatically correct. I did not detect any bias, although the article could expand more on how the law application of the law varies between women of different religions.

There was only one working link for the sources. The rest either don't work or don't have links. This article is part of four Wiki Projects - Creation, Israel, Law, and Women's History - and it's rated StartClass in all four categories.

I could not figure out how to leave a question but my question would be - how did this law come to be? Where does it fit within the context of the Israeli legal system? And elaborate on how it interacts with religious law and how it's applied differently to women of different religions.

DRAFT
INTRODUCTION

The Women’s Equal Rights Law, 5711-1951 was passed by the First Knesset of the State of Israel in order to explicitly guarantee the equal status of men and women in the newly established state. The law was enacted three years after Executive Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Head of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, David Ben-Gurion, issued Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which promised “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race, or sex.” Since its inception, the Women’s Equal Rights Law, 5711-1951 has been met with both praise and criticism.

Former Senior Deputy State Attorney for the Israeli Ministry of Justice Plea Albeck heralds the law for ensuring “most rights are enjoyed equally by men and women” and states “special provisions relating to women, for the most part, are regarded as benefits rather than disadvantages.” These “special provisions” grant women a “privileged status,” and include things such as women serve a shorter military service than men and mothers and pregnant women are exempt from service completely; married women are allowed to own and maintain property as if they were unmarried and their spouses have no claim to any profit from this property; and women are allowed to use contraceptives and seek a medical abortion without the consent of her husband. These examples of legal privileges for women are cited as positive outcomes of the Women’s Equal Rights Law. Albeck further explains in her 1972 article, “The Status of Women in Israel,” that the law is intended to both (1) ensure women share the same rights as men and (2) to preserve the special rights and privileges granted to women.

While supporters of the law champion its provisions for ensuring special privileges for women, this section also garners criticism, as many aspects of “privileged status” come from religious law. Frances Raday, the currently head of the Concord Institute for the Study of the Absorption of International Law in Israel, explains “one of the main reasons for the demotion of the principle of equality in the Israeli legal system is deference to religious values.” The State of Israel identifies as a state that is both Jewish and Democratic, yet often finds its religious and political values at odds. Much of the criticism for the Women’s Equal Rights Law stems from the debate over religious versus secular democratic values. Criticism for the law largely stems from the notion that rather than foster true sex equality, the law’s declaration of a “privileged status” delineates women as “separate but equal.” Although people from across the religious and political spectrum applaud the law for guaranteeing a separate status for women,  critics argue that this separate status undermines female equality. Pnina Lahav, researcher and professor of law at Boston University, criticizes the law for both the “maintenance of religious jurisdiction over matters of marriage and divorce and the legitimation of a privileged status for women.”

FULL TEXT - WOMEN'S EQUAL RIGHTS LAW 5711-1951


 * 1) A man and woman shall have equal status with regard to any legal proceeding; any provision of the law which discriminates, with regard to any legal proceeding, against women and women, shall be of no effect.
 * 2) A married woman shall be fully competent to own and deal with property as if she were unmarried; her rights in property acquired to before marriage shall not be affected by her marriage.
 * 3) (a) Both parents are the natural guardians of their children; where one parent dies, the survivor shall be the natural guardian. (b) The Provisions of subsection (a) shall not derogate from the power of a competent court or tribunal to deal with matters of guardianship over the persons or property of children with the interest of the children as the sole consideration.
 * 4) (a) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, rights in an estate, being mulk land or movable property, shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule or to the Succession Ordinance. (b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall apply to any estate the order for the distribution of which is made after the coming into force of this Law, even if the deceased died before such coming into force. (c) The provisions of subsection (a) do not apply to such items of an estate as are disposed of by will.
 * 5) This Law shall show affect any legal prohibition or permission relating to marriage or divorce.
 * 6) This Law shall not derogate from any provision of law protecting women as women.
 * 7) All courts shall act in accordance with this Law; a tribunal competent to deal with matters of personal status shall likewise act in accordance therewith, unless all the parties are eighteen years of age or over and have consented before the tribunal, of their own free will, to have their case tried according to the laws of their community.
 * 8) The Criminal Code Ordinance, 1936, shall be amended as follows: (a) Paragraph (c) of the proviso to section 181 is repealed; (b) the following section shall be inserted after 181: 181A. Where the husband dissolves the marriage against the will of the wife without a judgement of a competent court or tribunal ordering the wife to dissolve the marriage, the husband is guilty of a felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
 * 9) The Minister of Justice is charged with the implementation of this Law.

David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister

Pinchas Rosen, Minister of Justice

Chaim Weizmann, President of the State