Cultivating a Culture of Peace in Israel

Culture of Peace Israel, Haifa city with sea view




Cultivating a Culture of Peace in Israel through gender equality, women’s participation, and UNESCO’s transformative framework

The Intersection of Gender Inequality and Conflict Culture

The relationship between gender inequality, violence against women, and perpetual conflict in Israel presents a complex web of interconnected challenges that may be fundamentally reshaping the nation’s social fabric. Current data reveals a troubling picture: Israel has plummeted 23 spots in global gender equality rankings to 83rd place worldwide, with women closing only 70.1% of the gender gap according to the World Economic Forum. This decline coincides with concerning statistics on violence against women, where 5.6% of women aged 15-49 reported experiencing physical and/or sexual violence by intimate partners in 2018.

These statistics take on deeper significance when viewed through the lens of conflict theory and peace studies. The perpetual state of military readiness, occupation policies, and recurring cycles of violence may be creating what scholars term a “culture of war” – a societal framework that normalizes aggression, hierarchical power structures, and the marginalization of voices traditionally associated with peace-building, particularly women’s voices.

The “More Women, More Peace” Paradigm and UNESCO’s Culture of Peace

The slogan “More Women, More Peace” was famously championed by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström as part of Sweden’s groundbreaking Feminist Foreign Policy launched in 2014, making Sweden the first country in the world to formally adopt such an approach. Wallström described it as “standing against the systematic and global subordination of women” and a “precondition” for achieving Sweden’s wider foreign development and security goals.

This slogan encapsulates the core principle of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, highlighting that the meaningful participation of women in all aspects of peace processes and security initiatives leads to more sustainable and inclusive outcomes. The WPS agenda, established by UN Security Council Resolution 1325, is built on four pillars: prevention, participation, protection, and relief and recovery. Research consistently demonstrates that peace agreements are more durable when women are involved in negotiations, with Wallström emphasizing that women’s participation “should be our default position — not a novelty”.

UNESCO’s Culture of Peace framework provides the broader philosophical foundation for this approach, recognizing that sustainable peace requires not just the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice, equality, and respect for human rights. The Culture of Peace program emphasizes that peace must be built through education, gender equality, human rights, democratic participation, tolerance, free flow of information, and disarmament. This framework suggests that gender equality is not merely a human rights issue, but a critical component of conflict resolution and peace-building.

In the Israeli context, this theory gains particular relevance given the current government’s limited female representation, with only 6 cabinet ministers serving in leadership roles. At 25%, women’s representation in Israeli government falls significantly below comparable economies – trailing behind the U.S. (29%), Spain (43%), and Argentina (45%) as of 2023. This underrepresentation occurs despite Israeli women’s high levels of education and labor force participation, suggesting structural barriers rather than capability gaps.

Israel’s Evolution Compared to Peaceful Democracies

The contrast between Israel’s trajectory and that of more peaceful evolved democracies becomes stark when examining the relationship between gender equality and conflict resolution. While countries like Sweden, Norway, and New Zealand have systematically increased women’s political participation and simultaneously pursued diplomatic solutions to international conflicts, Israel has experienced a stagnation in women’s representation since 2015, coinciding with increased militarization and declining optimism about peace prospects.

Sweden’s feminist foreign policy, structured around the three Rs – Rights, Representation, and Resources – has been adopted by ten other countries, demonstrating a global recognition that gender equality directly correlates with peaceful international relations. In contrast, Israel’s approach has increasingly prioritized military responses over diplomatic initiatives, while women’s political representation has plateaued at levels far below international standards.

The data reveals that while Israel was among the first countries to have a woman in the highest political office (Golda Meir in 1969), it has since fallen behind in systematic gender integration. Between 1996 and 2015, Israel showed improvement in women’s Knesset representation, but this progress has stalled, leaving Israel ranked 70th globally in women’s parliamentary representation – behind 69 other countries. This decline coincides with polling data showing that only 21% of Israelis believe Israel and a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully, the lowest share since 2013.

Peaceful democracies demonstrate that female parliamentarians are more likely to promote education, health, welfare, and poverty alleviation while focusing on diplomatic solutions to conflicts. Nations with higher women’s representation tend to show improved economic performance and greater commitment to international cooperation and conflict prevention rather than military solutions.

What the Data Reveals: Key Areas for Analysis

Gender Gap Indicators

(redyellowblue.org/data/il/gender-gap/)

The comprehensive analysis of Israel’s gender gap requires examination across multiple dimensions:

Economic Participation: Despite high female workforce participation, Israel ranks among the four OECD countries with the highest wage inequality between men and women, with men earning 22% more than women on average (compared to the 15% OECD average). This economic disparity may reflect broader power imbalances that extend into political and social spheres.

Political Empowerment: The low representation of women in government positions (25% compared to international standards of 30-45%) directly impacts policy priorities and conflict resolution approaches. Research suggests that female political leaders are more likely to prioritize diplomatic solutions, social welfare, and peace-building initiatives.

Educational Achievement: While Israeli women excel in educational attainment, this advantage doesn’t translate into proportional representation in leadership positions, suggesting systemic barriers that may be linked to militaristic cultural values that traditionally privilege masculine approaches to problem-solving.

Violence Against Women Analysis

(redyellowblue.org/data/il/vaw-israel)

The violence against women data provides crucial insights into how conflict culture may be manifesting in domestic and social spheres:

Intimate Partner Violence: The 5.6% rate of reported intimate partner violence reflects only documented cases, with actual rates likely higher due to underreporting. This violence occurs within a broader cultural context where military solutions are normalized and aggressive behaviors may be inadvertently reinforced.

Systemic Violence: Violence against women often serves as an indicator of broader societal tolerance for coercive power structures. In conflict societies, the normalization of violence in public discourse may contribute to its acceptance in private relationships.

Peace Dividend Potential: Addressing violence against women could yield what researchers term a “peace dividend” – reducing societal violence overall while simultaneously empowering women to participate more fully in peace-building processes.

The Transformation Thesis

The evidence suggests that Israel’s gender inequality and high rates of violence against women are not merely coincidental to its ongoing conflicts, but may be both symptoms and perpetuating factors of a culture organized around military responses rather than diplomatic solutions. The “culture of war” thesis proposes that societies engaged in prolonged conflicts develop institutional and cultural patterns that privilege aggressive, hierarchical approaches to problem-solving while marginalizing collaborative, negotiation-based alternatives traditionally associated with feminine leadership styles.

The transformation thesis suggests that systematic efforts to achieve gender equality – including dramatically increasing women’s political participation, addressing violence against women, and implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda alongside UNESCO’s Culture of Peace framework – could catalyze a fundamental shift toward a “culture of peace.” This transformation would involve not just policy changes, but a broader cultural reorientation toward diplomacy, human security, and conflict prevention rather than military responses.

The success of women’s peace movements in Northern Ireland, Liberia, and other conflict zones provides empirical support for this transformation potential, while Sweden’s feminist foreign policy demonstrates how gender equality can be systematically integrated into national security strategies. Israel’s current underutilization of women’s peace-building capacity represents both a significant challenge and an unprecedented opportunity for social change that could fundamentally alter the trajectory of Middle Eastern conflict resolution.

Sources and References

UN Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda:
UNESCO Culture of Peace Program:
International Initiatives:
Israeli Gender Data:
Research Sources: