Recognition, Redistribution, Representation: Women in the Kibbutz in the 21st Century

In this paper we examined the status of kibbutz women in the neoliberal era in the second decade of the twenty-first century. We draw on the approach of Nancy Fraser, whose ground-breaking research indicated three key parameters for analysing the gender order: societal recognition of what is understood as ‘womanhood’ and ‘feminine’, gender-based redistribution of resources and the representation parameter (Dahl, Stoltz & Willig, 2004; Fraser, 1995, 2000). We found that in the spheres of recognition and redistribution, gender borders have grown somewhat less rigid, but without significantly altering the social order. In the field of representation, we noted a process that may change the map of representation in the future and could therefore affect recognition and division. We also discussed factors that are likely to cause change in the field of representation.