Work, Care and Belonging: A Feminist Critique of the 'Duties Discourse5 in Israel By Revital Goldhar A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science Graduate Department of Law University of Toronto © Copyright by Revital Goldhar 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44750-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44750-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada Work, Care and Belonging: A Feminist Critique of the 'Duties Discourse' in Israel Doctor of Juridical Science, 2008 Revital Goldhar Graduate Department of Law, University of Toronto Abstract Like many other countries, Israel has recently reformed its welfare system and introduced its citizens to the requirement to enter the labour market. I refer to this requirement as 'the duty to work'. Israeli citizens are required to become economically independent rather than a burden on society, and only those who fulfill this requirement and find a paid job, are entitled to welfare benefits. This development signalled an important change in the interplay between rights and obligations of citizenship. If in the past, social citizenship was built upon holding social rights, today, social citizenship is conditioned upon fulfilling a social obligation, the duty to work. In practice, however, not everyone can easily enter the labour market and find a paid job that meets all their needs. Women, especially single mothers, usually face significant difficulties in balancing family responsibilities and labour market participation. In light of these difficulties, many of them might not be able to fulfill the duty to work, and therefore might not reach full membership in the Israeli society. ii How do we understand the duty to work? How do women, and in particular single mothers, cope with the new requirement? What are the sanctions they face if they do not work? How does the duty affect the practice of motherhood and care? My thesis is aimed to answer these questions. The central argument that runs through the thesis is that the 'duty to work' is structured according to gendered norms that do not allow all women, especially single mothers, to fiilfill the new duty thus limiting their ability to contribute to society and establish their belonging to the national collective. This new duty adds to women's problematic position in society as their previous main citizenship duty was that of motherhood - a practice that paved their route into the collective but was structured in a way that provided them with merely second-class citizenship. A possible solution to this gendered structure of citizenship duties is recognizing care as an active citizenship responsibility and allowing women to stay outside the labour market without marginalizing their standing in society. iii Acknowledgments I arrived in Canada five years ago to participate in the graduate program at the University of Toronto. The journey toward completing the doctoral thesis was indeed challenging and demanding. I would have not able to fulfill my goals without the support and care of many people, in Canada both and Israel, who stood by me during these years. I would like to express my genuine gratitude to my supervisor Patrick Macklem for his calm and patient guidance throughout the project. I thank him for pushing me to enhance my arguments, reassuring about the quality of my work and believing in my ability to complete the program. I am especially thankful for his encouragement and generous support that convinced me to present my work in different forums and conferences which improved my thesis in an enormous way. I thank committee member Brenda Cossman for supporting me during the ups and downs of writing the thesis. I am grateful for her tremendous shaping force on my thesis, her helpful assistance with my feminist research and giving me the opportunity to talk about my thesis even when I was not convinced that I should write it. Without her motivation and feedback I would not have completed the program. I thank committee member Lome Sossin for invaluable guidance on my theoretical research in the areas of welfare and citizenship. I am grateful for his insights about the Israeli case-study, his kindness and supportive approach throughout the project. His comments lead to important improvements in this thesis. I would also like to express my appreciation to Jennifer Nedelsky for her thoughtful and constructive comments during my oral examination. I am also grateful to Daphna Barak- Erez, my external reader, who carefully read my thesis, engaged with my arguments and contributed with helpful comments. IV Special gratitude to Denise Reaume, whose guidance, understanding and patience added considerably to my graduate experience. I am grateful for long conversations about academic life as well as personal events, and for a great sense of humour. Her door was always open and she welcomed me to share my thoughts and worries. Her support and attention eased the difficulties of living and studying abroad. I also thank Kerry Rittich, who was my supervisor for the master thesis, for her comments on the doctoral proposal. I am also thankful for her support and guidance during my participation in the master program mat paved my way into the doctoral program. I am grateful for the generous financial support of the Graduate Program at the Faculty of Law. David Dyzenhaus, Kaye Joachim, Julia Hall and Rose Ann MacGillivray made enormous efforts to accommodate my needs during the years. Special thanks to David for extending the financial support during my maternity and sick leaves. Special thanks also to Julia for unique sense of humour and special care. I was privileged to meet great friends in Canada with whom I shared the academic project as well as personal experiences. I thank Ummni Khan, Jarmila Lajcakova, Jillian Boyd, Yaara Lemberger-Kenar and Zoran Oklopcic for being good friends who listened to my thoughts and shared the joy and challenges of this journey. Without them, our space in the library would not be the same. I would also like to thank my good friends Carla Troper, Emily Hammond, Rayner Thwaites, Boaz Ben-David and Adi Folkman for their love, friendship and support. They made my stay in Canada an extraordinary experience. I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Meital Pinto and Boaz Miller who became close friends and my family in Canada. I am indebted for their rare and enduring friendship. I thank Meital for her love and support, and for her faith in me and my work, which often exceeded my own. I am grateful for her willingness to listen and comfort, cook and shop, and for sharing with me both happy and hard times in Canada. I am also thankful for her intellectual insight about my work. I thank Boaz for reading and improving earlier drafts of v my thesis, for intellectual advice, and for his fun and sarcastic sense of humour. I am thankful for his support and encouragement, and for preparing wonderful dinners. It is not easy to keep a friendship alive when living abroad. Special thanks to my friend in Israel, Limor Levi, for long conversations that helped me to cope with my life in Canada. I am grateful for her love, encouragement and patience. I would also like to thank my mother-in-law Cynthia Turner for carefully editing my thesis. I value her patience and comments that improved not only the language but also the content. None of this would have been possible without the love and support of my beloved family. I am grateful for the overwhelming support of my parents, Zipi and Chaim, and my sister Galit, who sent their endless love across the ocean and believed in my ability to participate in the graduate program and build my live in Canada It was extremely hard to stay so far away and not being able to share with them the small moments in life, but I always felt that they are part of me and that they contribute to me in this journey.