01Dec 26, 2014CoverageIsrael's ultra-Orthodox mull bigger role for womenA Tia Goldenberg piece (December 2014) examines ferment over Haredi women's representation: over 20% of Knesset members are women, but none from Shas or United Torah Judaism. Shushan, then 37: "There is an absurd situation in Israel where women cannot run for two political parties." The piece also notes Adina Bar-Shalom, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's daughter, pushing for change from a different angle. Her threat to defect pushed Shas to create a women's advisory council and name her its co-chair.The Times of IsraelShow the full item
02July 23, 2017InterviewTwo ultra-Orthodox feminists challenge Israel's political landscapeA wide Washington Post profile by Ruth Eglash on Esty Shushan and Estee Rieder-Indursky, who over the five years before publication led the push to get women onto Shas and United Torah Judaism candidate lists, parties holding 13 Knesset seats and three ministries between them, all held by men. Shushan: "As Haredi women, we face many battles. It took me awhile to realize that fighting those battles starts up there." Rieder-Indursky: "This change will happen, the question is just when... because it has happened all over the world." The piece also documents personal cost: a court order to keep Shushan's daughter enrolled in her school, and Rieder-Indursky's own son begging her to stop.The Washington PostShow the full item
03December 2017CoveragePetition for Haredi women representation in Haredi parties advancesA Jerusalem Post article by Jeremy Sharon (December 2017) on a petition for Haredi women's representation within the Haredi parties themselves. The subheadline, accessible past the paywall: "Women do not have the ability to join as Haredi party members so they do not have the ability to hold formal office within the party or stand as candidates." The article's body itself is paywalled and wasn't accessible beyond that.The Jerusalem PostShow the full item
04Jul 9, 2018OpinionNo Voice, No VoteA Nancy Strichman opinion column (July 2018) on The Times of Israel's blogs traces Nivcharot's founding, its Supreme Court and UN advocacy, and draws a suffragette-movement parallel.The Times of Israel BlogsShow the full item
05Aug 1, 2018CoverageCourt Urges Ultra-Orthodox Party to Allow Women to Run for Public OfficeA Times of Israel staff report (August 1, 2018): the Court ordered Agudath Israel to allow women candidates by September 2, or "we will be forced to issue a legal ruling." The petition was filed by Tamar Ben-Porat and ten organizations, including Nivcharot, named directly. Shushan: "a historic decision... we feel something big happened today." The party's own lawyer conceded in court: "there is no halachic problem [with women's representation], but it is inappropriate." Rieder-Indursky: "For us it is not 2018. It is 1918."The Times of IsraelShow the full item
06Aug 24, 2018InterviewIsrael's Ultra-Orthodox Women Win Partial Victory in Fight to Run for OfficeA Michele Chabin article (August 2018), built largely around Shushan's own quotes. Shushan: "We women are 50 percent of the haredi population but we have no access at the decision-making table"; "Haredi women are allowed to become marketers, lawyers, journalists, but the one place they can't enter is politics." On the personal cost: "There are people in the community who either ignore us or shame us." Still: "The parties will find a way to get around it, but I feel the change in our community."Religion News ServiceShow the full item
07Sept 4, 2018CoverageUltra-Orthodox Coalition Party to End Ban on Women, but Says Nothing Will ChangeA Times of Israel staff report (September 4, 2018): Agudath Israel will remove the clause barring women's membership, but the party itself makes clear "the change in the regulations will not bring about any actual change in acceptance to the party," following the Court order and Ben-Porat's petition with the ten organizations, including Nivcharot. Estee Rieder-Indursky, in an i24 interview: "For us it is not 2018. It is 1918," a warning that the legal win isn't yet a real one.The Times of IsraelShow the full item
08Sept 5, 2018Interview"No Voice, No Vote," Say Feminist Haredi Women in IsraelAn Eetta Prince-Gibson profile (September 2018) of Nivcharot, founded by Shushan (41) and Rieder-Indursky (44) six years earlier. Following the July 31, 2018 court win, Shushan: "We won! We made history!"; Rieder-Indursky: "This is for all haredi women!... the last of the suffragists in the modern world." The piece also documents the cost: rabbinic calls for divorce without alimony, and children expelled from schools. A cited 2016 Hiddush survey: 80% of Israeli Jews support the right itself.Hadassah MagazineShow the full item
09Jan 11, 2019OpinionNo Voice, No VoteA separate column under the same title, by Peta Jones Pellach (January 2019), covers Nivcharot's slogan and its legal wins against discriminatory bylaw clauses; quotes co-activist Estee Rieder-Indursky on the suffragist comparison.The Times of Israel BlogsShow the full item
10Nov 21, 2019CoverageIsraeli Ultra-Orthodox Women Launch Anti-Domestic Violence CampaignAn Alexandra Vardi article (November 2019) covers Nivcharot's "If you are scared, that is not shlom bayit" campaign for the Int'l Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women; reports the org's "around 15,000 supporters" at the time and describes the culturally-coded imagery (spilled wine, not violence) used to reach Haredi women via WhatsApp.The Times of IsraelShow the full item
11Feb 26, 2020CoverageSome ultra-Orthodox Jewish women in Israel are breaking with tradition to press for a political sayA Washington Post piece (February 2020, ahead of the 2020 election) on a small but growing number of Haredi women seeking political voice beyond the two Haredi parties. The piece documents a "flood of threats" against Haredi women in politics, and party leaders' view that "ultra-Orthodox women in parties are destroying Judaism, and men are the public emissaries."The Washington PostShow the full item
12Nov 3, 2021InterviewThe Israeli Woman Leading a Feminist Revolt in Ultra-Orthodox SocietyA Judy Maltz profile (November 3, 2021), tied to the documentary "Women of Valor." In the accessible opening paragraph: Shushan, eldest of 12 children, grew up in a home that barred girls from Talmud study, and was told as a child: "Don't bother your pretty little head with subjects only men can understand," instead encouraged toward "cooking and baking skills, the better to find yourself a nice husband." The article is paywalled beyond this opening.Haaretz (English edition)Show the full item
