Family Law and Trafficking in Women in Israel as the Two Ends of the Same Spectrum

Abstract

This paper discusses the common roots of women's status under Israeli family law and the phenomenon of trafficking in women in Israel. I argue that since under Israeli law marriage is a religious institution, women who get married in a religious ceremony become their husbands' property. Therefore, the logic of trafficking in women appears also within the "normative" context as well - marriage.

Note: Downloadable document in Hebrew.

Keywords: marriage, divorce, trafficking, equality, women, Jewish law, feminism, prostitution, pornography, Israeli law