Want Moshiach? Have More Women at the Table
Last October, I was pushing our baby stroller on La Cienega Boulevard when an Orthodox man driving a “Sukkah-mobile” (a car with a small sukkah strapped to the roof) drove by, blaring the song, “Moshiach! Moshiach! Moshiach!”The ear-splitting sound could be heard by every person and pigeon within a three-mile radius. I hadn’t heard such loud music emanating from a car since rapper Tupac Shakur was shot to death in 1996; ever the Tupac fan, I forced my mother to blast his music on the ride home from middle school.
You had to give the guy credit. The Chabadnik, not Tupac.
His public zeal did inspire me to think about the concept of Moshiach — the Jewish messiah during whose era there finally will be world peace. And that evening, something happened that made me think Moshiach would arrive sooner rather than later.
That night (October 16, 2019), I spoke on a panel organized by Israel Policy Forum (IPF) Atid, which engages young professionals and millennials with Israel. The event was the kickoff of IPF Atid’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) channel, a new initiative that aims “to advance women’s involvement, expertise, and leadership in Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding and Jewish communal affairs.”
There was no doubt about it: Moshiach was coming — because two out of the three panelists were women. Even the moderator was a woman. I know a women’s initiative sponsored the panel, but such numbers still were nothing short of miraculous. If you regularly participate in the Jewish (and even non-Jewish) speaking circuit, you’ll probably agree.
For years, I’ve seen event flyers with the names and faces of men. Old men. Young men. Men who were indispensable experts. Men who weren’t fit to address the issues. When I attended such events, I saw brilliant women on stage — too bad they were only tasked with introducing the men. Do events solely have to be organized by women’s initiatives (like the IPF panel) to at least include an equal number of female speakers?
During the IPF panel, Dr. Shira Efron, Special Advisor on Israel at the RAND Corporation, cited studies that all pointed to one thing: women are sorely needed in peace and conflict negotiations. But they’re also sorely underrepresented:
In 2000, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 to “ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels… for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.” But a 2018 study from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security found that women made up only 8% of negotiators in peace processes, 5% of witnesses and signatories, and 2% of mediators.
That underrepresentation is a shame, since research has shown a 35% increase in peace and reconciliation agreements lasting for at least 15 years when women are involved. In a March 2018 World Bank blog titled “Can Gender Equality Prevent Violent Conflict?”, World Bank consultant Catalina Crespo-Sancho argued that “gender equality is a key ally in the prevention of violent conflict,” adding, “The larger the gender gap … the more likely a country is to be involved in inter- and intrastate conflict and to use violence as a first response in a conflict setting.”
WPS Chair Rachel Wallace, who moderated the discussion between Efron, IPF Atid National Director Adam Basciano, and myself, noted that in the past few decades, Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have only included two women: Israeli politician and diplomat Tzipi Livni and Hanan Ashrawi, Member of the PLO Executive Committee. How is it that one of the longest-lasting, devastating conflicts in the world has involved diplomatic efforts by just a few women?
Maybe I just answered my own question. Maybe if the task of pursuing peace was primarily led by Israeli and Palestinian women, this brutal conflict would have ended decades ago (although Ashrawi’s documented hatred for the Jewish state and refusal to condemn Palestinian terrorism hasn’t exactly fueled good faith negotiations between both sides).
I’m not suggesting that panels should feature women without regard to their biases and, in some cases, their violent racism. Case in point: A recent San Francisco State University (SFSU) virtual event on Sept 23 featured Palestinian plane hijacker Leila Khaled as a guest speaker. In the case of the SFSU event, that was one female speaker we could have done without.
During the IPF panel, I spoke about my experiences as former Director of Academic Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel and as co-founder and former Executive Director of 30 Years After, a prominent Iranian-American Jewish civic action organization. I recalled that I often brought my father to listen to my talks and that event organizers (who’d often never met me) would enthusiastically shake my father’s hand and ask him if he needed anything before he went on stage. One strike against women.
Clearly, the man next to me was old enough to be my father. In fact, he was my father. Many organizers would then point to me and say, “And this must be your wife!” One strike against Middle Eastern-looking men.
It’s difficult for women to be involved in policy and diplomacy. Whether due to discrimination or the fact that many women around the world are expected to tend to home and children before a career—whether in Africa, America, or the Middle East—the seats at the proverbial table are almost always filled by men.
In a May 2020 cover story in this paper, titled “How Gender Diversity at the Highest Levels is Impacting — and Improving — the World,” Associate Director of AJC Washington Susan Sloan quoted Réka Szemerkényi. Szemerkényi, the first female Hungarian Ambassador to the United States, saw in women a crucial balance of heart and mind: “You can only be successful professionally if you use your brain to full capacity, but the bravery of adding heart is something that I think makes a difference,” she said.
Adding heart always makes a difference. In terms of war and conflict, no one feels the effects of devastation more than women, who tend to villages that have been decimated, comfort survivors who’ve seen the unspeakable, and most importantly, mold and teach their own children about peace, hate, and healing. And so, it is women who are needed. Women who will bring us closer to peace.
We already have the opportunity to get one step closer to Moshiach: The historic Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain have ushered a previously inconceivable era of peace and teamwork. These states now are collaborating on everything from food and water security to film and TV production. There’s no reason why women can’t and shouldn’t be involved at every level of this commendable cooperation, which will improve the quality of life for tens of millions of people.
As for me, I don’t know when I’ll ever sit on a panel that’s 66 percent female again, but if it happens soon, you may find me on La Cienega Boulevard, clapping my hands and blasting “Moshiach! Moshiach! Moshiach!” from my sensible minivan.
Tabby Refael is a Los Angeles-based writer, speaker and activist.
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