What we do
CWJ advocates and sets precedents at all levels of the Israeli legal system to challenge and remedy state violations of women’s rights perpetrated in the name of religion.
Reshaping the Public Discourse
CWJ identifies and names injustices as the first step to correcting them. We mobilize an active, educated public to agitate for the change that society needs most.
Ensuring Marital Freedom
CWJ develops and promotes practical civil and halakhic legal tools that give women back their power to live with freedom and dignity.
Who we fight for
In Israel, the state routinely violates women’s civil rights in the name of religion.
CWJ represents the interests of Jewish women when state and religion clash.
Agunah
An agunah is a woman whose husband refuses, or is unable, to grant her a Jewish bill of divorce (get). She cannot legally divorce in Israel.
Mamzer
A mamzer is a child born to a woman accused of engaging in a biblically forbidden union. The state blacklists these children and denies them the right to marry, inherit, receive child support and more.
Immigrant
Women immigrants, often from the former Soviet Union, are subjected to cross-examination of their Jewish roots, at the time of marriage or divorce.
Suspected Adulteresses
A woman–but not a man–has her fidelity scrutinized by the state during divorce proceedings. The state blacklists “suspected adulteresses” and limits their right to remarry.
Convert
The state has the authority to question the piety and religious sincerity of women converts and sometimes revoke their conversions at the time of marriage or divorce.
Gender Discrimination
Women are denied access by the state to public services, spaces, occupations and opportunities on the grounds of “modesty” and other religious claims.