Nostalgia Sunday – The Modern Israeli Woman In Old Newsreels
Filed under: coexistence, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, War
A few months ago, I posted an item about the Women’s Corps, timed to coincide with an exhibit about those brave women of pre-State Israel who volunteered for the British Army. Their service formed the basis for Chen, the Israel Defense Forces’ women’s corps.
But I hadn’t yet discovered a wealth of old newsreels produced by now defunct news service British Pathe, with its archive of 90,000 videos, stills and stories spanning 80 years, from 1896 to 1976. And how delightful to find a newsreel about the very same Women’s Corps, Girls from the Middle East Join the W.A.A.F. The British Army recruited all over the region, “Way out there,” the announcer snidely puts it, “Where men are men and women are not far behind!”
RECRUITING IN THE MIDDLE EAST
The film (click on the image to view) makes the past come alive with various shots of the women recruits being signed on at a Middle East camp of the W.A.A.F. (Womens’ Auxiliary Air Force). They unpack their bags, make their beds and smoke cigarettes before getting changed into uniforms, shedding high heels in favor of sensible shoes, and beginning to march.
A decade after the founding of the state, British Pathe was there to chronicle the development of Chen, the IDF Women’s Corps, in this newsreel entitled Girls Train to Defend Israel. Notice that times have changed — no snarky editorializing from the male announcer. Just the facts ma’am, just the facts.
ISRAEL – GIRLS TRAIN TO DEFEND
British Pathe also has additional outtake footage of women soldiers, including a very young Yael Dayan. Definitely worth a look.
ISRAEL PROMOTES WOMEN’S ARMY
Foto Friday – Deborah Sinai’s Working Women
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Profiles
Milan-born Deborah Sinai is an internationally published photographer who currently works as a freelancer for news agencies in Italy, Israel and the UK. Sinai also puts her passion for documentation into independent projects, profiling subjects of personal interest.
Women in Men’s Jobs, completed last year, is a series of portraits of Israeli women working in non-traditional workplaces. The project, states Sinai, “aims to explore the themes of confidence and determination, passion and ambition, through the photographs of Israeli women participating in activities typically reserved for men.”
These range from sign-maker Sharonit Haziza, who says, “some clients are a bit surprised about it but they appreciate the final faultless work”…
…to motorbike mechanic Tal Perevolotsky who finds her clientele “feel that their motorcycles [are] treated better just because I’m a woman.”
Sinai states, “Perhaps the biggest challenge these women face is the reception by their co-workers and clients. How others treat them is extremely varied, offering insight into Israel’s social conscience. These women sometimes face gossip and negative comments condemning their break with traditional female roles.”
That problem is faced head-on by construction manager Lior Carmi who tells Sinai, “My work crew, obviously, have no problem to work and to take instructions from a woman. Those that do don’t work for me!”
There are those, like electrician-plumber Rachel Halamish Zemach, who “love[s] dressing in a feminine way even when I am getting filthy” and finds that many female customers prefer a handywoman to a handyman, particularly those “that do not feel comfortable or secure with male workers in their home.”
One factor all the women Sinai interviewed have in common is a streak of perfectionism or going the extra mile. “I like to do my best in any given situation,” says carpenter Orit Goren.
The element of self-fulfillment — and love for the job — is another unifying factor, like that of pilot Ravit Naor who began flying at the age of 39 once she “understood that I could not let my dreams wait any longer.” Today, she tells Sinai, “I have the best office in the world, and with a great view!”
More Women in Men’s Jobs can be found on Deborah Sinai’s website, where other works — featured in national and international magazines and newspapers such as the British Journal of Photograohy and RPS magazine, La Stampa, Photovision and Israel’s Masa Aher — can also be viewed and purchased.
Will we live in a Flat world?
With one in eight women likely to get breast cancer at one time or another in their lives, it’s a topic that makes an awful lot of women extremely nervous. Israeli film maker and breast cancer survivor Nitsana Bellehsen decided to take a different approach – humor.
Her film, Flat, which has been selected as the only Israeli finalist in the Breast Fest Film Festival in Toronto, tackles the subject of the rising rates of breast cancer with a sense of black absurdity that leaves you both concerned and amused at the same time.
In her short four minute film, Nitsana – who does many of ISRAEL21c’s video features on YouTube – leaps ahead to 2050 to see what the world will look like. It’s not pretty.
You can watch the movie here, and don’t forget to vote. Voting closes on October 15.
A teaser follows.
Nostalgia Sunday – Working Women
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday
They promised equality but didn’t deliver. The status of women in Israel has been discussed, researched, analyzed, and — if you look through the Labor Movement image archive, categorized, too. Under the heading “Women Workers” are photos of women standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts in the field…
…but also rattling those pots and pans…
…and fulfilling other traditional women’s roles.
The ideal of women, standing alongside their brothers in arms, was usually just that.
Just as often, images of women’s work had something to do with an apron…
…in a poster that is spookily reminiscent of this ad for laundry soap!
Despite its ambivalence, Labor Zionism always recognized the power of the female voter — “Who brings a blessing upon the family and the nation”.
Through organizations like the Israel Women’s Network (IWN), Israel’s foremost non-profit organization dedicated to women’s equality and rights, things are slowly beginning to improve. IWN has initiated laws such as the Sexual Harassment Prevention Law of 1998, the 2005 law establishing a Commission for Equal Employment Opportunities; fought discrimination in the workplace; helped women who have been refused divorce and/or custody; aided victims of sex trafficking — and there is much more to do.
Fashion in a global world
I imagine for Israeli fashion designer Mirit Weinstock it must be a blast. In a new project on her internet site, she invited her customers worldwide to send in photographs of themselves wearing her clothes.
Fashion becomes real - Mirit Weinstock as worn by New Zealander Daryia Bing.
It’s probably the ultimate accolade for a designer. Rather like a journalist feels when they see some stranger out on the street not only reading one of their articles, but actually commenting on it.
It also actually makes for pretty compulsive viewing to anyone with a vague interest in fashion. Since the website was launched at the end of January, women from over 30 countries have sent in self-portraits of themselves wearing items from Mirit’s collections.
The nice thing about seeing the same clothes on different people from around the world is that they look SO different. In our global world, people often complain that we all wear the same clothes from the same chains, and that we are losing our individuality.
But as Weinstock’s site, Miss Mi, proves, when someone in Italy puts on a Mirit Weinstock jacket, they don’t look the same as the woman from Sweden, or Israel.
It’s a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed. In a recent interview, Weinstock said: “What interests me is the girl’s fantasy, or the way she views herself. Their interpretation of my fashion is fascinating to me. I take pleasure in seeing how each one is taking it to a place of her own. They often wear the garments in ways that I had not imagined when designing them, which is inspiring!”
Thirty-two-year-old year old Weinstock has been in the fashion business seven years. A Shenkar graduate, she interned at the Alexander McQueen fashion house in London and later joined Maison Lanvin, one of the leading fashion houses in Paris.
She returned to Israel in 2004 and set up her own label of ready to wear fashion, designing out a studio located in Jaffa’s flea market. She launched her first US collection in 2006 and now sells in stores across the US and Europe.
Weinstock came up with the idea for Miss Mi, when she was browsing Flickr one evening. She saw the pictures there and decided to find five women from all over the world to take pictures of themselves in her new spring collection.
She found the participants on Flickr and Facebook, sent them a package of five of her garments and asked them to do self-portraits, expressing their own personal take on the garments. She then used the pictures for her spring catalogue.
Since then, the idea has grown into Miss Mi. Weinstock says the project isn’t just about clothes, it’s about creating a community of women from all over the world, who share their pictures, thoughts, favorite web sites. Etc. etc.
It’ll be interesting to see if other fashion designers pick up on this new marketing tool.
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