Another Victory in the Fight against the Exclusion of Women

23 September 2014

The Jerusalem District Court has approved NIF grantee Israel Religious Action Center‘s (IRAC) suit against the ultra-Orthodox Kol BaRama radio station for excluding women from the station’s broadcasts. In addition, the court ruled that NIF grantee Kolech can claim damages, as can all women who have been discriminated against by this practice. Finally, it ordered the station to broadcast an advertisement in two newspapers, one of them ultra-Orthodox, inviting women who have been discriminated against by Kol BaRama’s practices to lodge a complaint.”

For years, Kol BaRama, a public radio station targeted to the ultra-Orthodox, had refused to employ women, feature women as anchors, or allow women to be interviewed or to call in to shows. In 2014, their license was reapproved on condition that they remove limitations on women callers (apart from the one hour of existing programming a day) and take active steps to increase the representation of women at the station and on the air.

In her ruling, Judge Kanfei-Steinitz stated: “Kol BaRama received a public resource in the form of a radio franchise and implemented blatant gender discrimination by forbidding women to express themselves and to be heard simply because they were women, while harming their right to respect, equality, and freedom of expression.”