Jewfem Blog

Thinking about the women of Afghanistan

I would like to talk about what's going in Afghanistan. Because, even though we have more 'local' stories to worry about, like covid and extreme weather, Afghanistan exposes a portrait of the world we are living in.  And it is, in a very profound way, personal.  American did not send troops into Afghanistan twenty years ago because of wom...

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Want gender equality? Learn from Rwanda.

International Women's Day 2021. Image by ✮~ Katty ~✩ courtesy of Creative Commons

Follow Rwanda.  On this International Women's Day (which of course begs the question -- if women are out front one day a year, what is going on during the other 364?), today I would like to talk about Rwanda. Yes Rwanda. A country that has been on the forefront of women's political representation for over a decade, the first country to have 50...

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Unwanted touch, negiya, sexual assault, and the Cuomos of the world




  Enter your text here ... A few years ago, I was interviewing a woman for research on sexual abuse in the Jewish community when she told me something that roiled me. My interviewee, a religious journalist working for a Jewish publication, described an experience she had at a media conference, in which a male colleague drew her into a hotel ro...

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TWO DAYS till my new book launch!


TWO DAYS TO BOOK LAUNCH! "I turned fifty years old this year. I did not mark the event by giving away cars, nor by taking my friends and family to Morocco for the weekend. Instead, on the day itself, I spent the morning taking my daughter wedding dress shopping, and then spent the afternoon meeting with a group of women to establish a new women's p...

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How lockdown is affecting my relationship with my body


Here is a thought that I can barely comprehend: Exactly one year ago, I was running for Knesset. I had formed a new Women's Party with a bunch of energetic women, and we were on the campaign trail. It's hard to picture, or even remember. I mean, it seems so far away that the coalition has already since collapsed AGAIN but nobody seems to realize or...

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Conversations with my Body: Now on sale


I am thrilled to report that today, my new book Conversations with my Body goes on sale as an ebook. (The print book will be later this week.) The books will be available directly on my book site and on my publisher's site, and on many locations around the web. We are NOT using Amazon. We are part of a movement to support the publishing industry an...

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Amy Coney Barret and Me: Thoughts on women who uphold the patriarchy

(Excerpt. Published in the current issue of LIlith Magazine HERE)  As the world watches Amy Coney Barret on display in the Senate judiciary hearings, I can hear the sound of bewilderment erupting in many people's heads. It's like the noise that your Waze makes when you make a wrong turn and then she has to adjust her entire plan while wonderin...

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Hard lessons I learned from four years of doing media opposite Trump supporters

Over the past four years, I have been in an unenviable position of regularly debating Trump representatives on air. As Vice Chair for Media for Democrats Abroad in Israel, I was the go-to person for the Israeli media looking for a voice to counter their Trump-supporting regulars. Amid the predominantly pro-Trump Israeli media, my team and I were ra...

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Merav Michaeli for Prime Minister

I'm very excited about what is happening today, right this second, in the Labor Party. Although I had to cancel my Labor Party membership last January when we formed the Women's Party, if I WERE still a member of Labor, i would be EAGERLY and EXCITEDLY voting for Merav Michaeli right now... The prospect of Merav Michaeli winning as head of the part...

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Inauguration: I'm breathing again

Like so many other people, I cried during the inauguration of Biden and Harris. It was about the humanity, the diversity, the joy, the compassion, the commitment to serving the people, the listening. All of that. And more.  The music, the cultures, the celebration of what can be. I daresay hope. But let's face it. There was a much bigger ...

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