Bargaining with spiritual patriarchy: Women in the Shas1 Movement in Israel

Abstract

In this article the strategies of gender bargaining with the spiritual and political patriarchy will be explored through the case study of the women in Shas Movement. Shas is an ultra orthodox Sephardic patriarchal community in Israel, whose community life, beliefs, and culture are rooted in the Jewish religion. Its rules and gender relations are translated into codes of behavior that are implemented by forces of patriarchy which work through social networks that function similarly to other disciplining power networks. As the control over the observation of religious life with regard to gender relations is very rigid the women who start to make changes do so in very small steps and proceed carefully in order to loosen the restricting forces. Women's bargaining is practiced like the art of embroidery. Through examples I introduce the methods and practices in which women in Shas manage to loosen the patriarchal control. I apply Deniz Kandioty's methodological notion of Bargaining With Patriarchy for the analytical part. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.