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Orthodox Women Sue Chareidi Radio Station for Discrimination

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An Orthodox women’s rights group in Israel is suing a Chareidi radio station for allegedly discriminating against women who wish to appear on its airwaves.

In the class action suit it filed with the Jerusalem District Court, Kolech claims that Kol Berama adheres to a policy that does not allow women to serve as broadcasters or interview subjects. The lawsuit seeks NIS 104 million in damages.

“Kol Berama refuses to allow women on the air on any topic, whether it is regarding a news item, expressing an opinion on a particular issue or raising a question,” Kolech stated. “As religious women, we see no connection whatsoever in refusing to allow women on the air and Jewish law. The fact that in the name of Jewish law, women are excluded from the public realm, contradicts the value of human dignity and the perspective that women, like men, were created in the image of G-d.”

In an absolute denial of the group’s claim, Kol Berama responded that, over the past six months, it has “allowed any female public figure who wanted to be interviewed to do so, and has provided as well for female listeners to speak on air in some programs.” The radio station noted that its actions have been in compliance with an agreement it had previously made with Israel’s Second Authority state media regulator.

At the same time, though, it is an uncontested fact that Kol Berama does not have women employed as regular program hosts, and – in general – it does not have women appearing on the air as listeners calling in to the station with comments.

“We were excited to discover that the Reform organizations and NGOs, which filed petitions with the High Court of Justice against the establishment of the radio station before it was even set up – in order to withhold from an entire sector of society the right to listen to media which accords with their beliefs and lifestyle – have reversed their opinion and appointed themselves as spokespeople for women from this sector,” the station said regarding the lawsuit.

Prior to Kol Berama’s founding in 2009, Israel’s Reform Movement petitioned the High Court of Justice in an attempt to block the granting of a broadcast license to the fledgling radio station. The movement’s petition – which was ultimately rejected – presented two arguments: Israel has a limited number of radio wavelengths available for new stations, and moreover, the fervently Orthodox Sephardic community was already being catered to by Radio Kol Hai.

In preparation for the lawsuit, Kolech commissioned a survey of Kol Berama’s listening audience by the Sarid Institute, which revealed that a sizable 40 percent of responders took offense to the radio station’s apparent policy of not allowing women to speak over the air and having men speak on their behalf.

Kolech made the determination to sue the station for NIS 104 million after it took the approximate number of female listeners who told the survey they were offended by Kol Berama’s policy, and multiplied that figure by the arbitrary total of either NIS 1,000 or 2,000 for each of those female listeners. The study demonstrated that 32% of respondents claimed they were “very offended” or “greatly offended” by the radio station’s actions.

Commenting on the survey, Kol Berama said it called on those challenging its practices to look through “thousands of faxes sent by the station’s female listeners” expressing support for its current policy, “which, contrary to anonymous surveys, include the full details of those who voiced their support.”

Orly Erez-Lahovsky, an attorney for the Israel Reform Movement, insisted that the Chareidi radio station’s policy was in violation of the state’s anti-discrimination laws. “From the outset, Kol Berama has excluded women from its broadcasts,” Lahovsky said. “The lawsuit cries out the cry of silenced Chareidi women who are entitled to have their voices heard on the airwaves of a radio station which receives a state media license.”

Standing by its practices, Kol Berama urged both Kolech and the Reform Movement to respect “the beliefs and outlook of the majority of the community, men and women together.”

According to Riki Shapira, an attorney for the Reform Movement who is working on the case, the station’s argument has no merit, as it is illegal for any company that serves the public to discriminate against any client. “What if they didn’t want to have Ethiopians or Arabs on the air, would that be okay?” Shapira asked rhetorically, noting that the enforcement of the law does not depend on whether a majority of the listening audience agreed with the radio station’s policy.

Stating that the Reform Movement is opposed to the accommodation reached between Kol Berama and the Second Authority, Shapira disclosed that the Justice Ministry is in the process of examining the agreement. “Where are we living, in Israel or Iran? This is a liberal, democratic state where the rule of law is enforced, including the prohibition against discrimination.”

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