On the exclusion of women on buses in Ashdod - Walla! local

According to data from the Israel Democracy Center, only about 5.5% of women head any authority in Israel and about 16.6% of council members served in 2018 (the data do not include regional councils). And here in Ashdod there are 5 women out of 29 council members, a grim reality that must change. And in the government and in key positions in government ministries? The situation is even bleaker. We make up about 51% of the population, but in everyday reality we are not there in the force that allows us to decide the quality of our lives.

I decided to change this reality. I decided to head a list in Ashdod, the Tushvim movement, after two decades of social activity and about 11 years in politics when I was there behind. I chose to stop apologizing and stopped hiding. This reality, when there is a very low female presence in the decision-making space, directly affects our quality of life as women in the city in which we live.

Ashdod 2023 My hometown, at the beginning of May we went back a lot back, we went back to 1955 - the exclusion of women on buses. The reality I talked about, you'll soon understand more.

Nurit Topaz - founder of the Toshvim movement (Photo: official website, photo: Alexandra Kisic)

I became Rosa Louise Parks one day. Like many of my friends, I was exposed to the exclusion of women on bus number 80, the ease with which the reality in which you live changes and your freedom is taken away from you just because you are a woman is unbearable. (And the exclusion doesn't end only with buses in our city) It's so hard to accept this reality in a city where you're raising your daughter, my special, helpless daughter, whose starting point is much further backwards than anyone else in the public sphere, which gave me no rest.

I spoke with some of my acquaintances and it turns out from the small research I did that the procedure for the exclusion of women has existed for many years and that this is not the only bus line that excludes women in the city of Ashdod, according to the veteran drivers with whom I spoke.

Women in Ashdod are not allowed to board bus number 80 without any prior preparation, a reality that is difficult to accept. It all came to light when a 17-year-old girl from the city tried to get on the bus line and reach the next destination, when she tried to board, the driver told her that she was not allowed to board the bus because it was a men-only bus.

The women of "Building an Alternative" in the city of Ashdod and the surrounding area, led by my friend Efrat Avraham on the journey of change, we decided that we were setting a red line. The distance is very short to the day when we wake up to a reality in which we will be restricted in dress and which side of the street we will walk on. We dressed in red, purchased red flowers and arrived to get on line 80. Bus company officials promised that the situation would change, we came to check it.

The bus door opened and we started boarding after the kind driver welcomed us with open arms, we entered a bus filled to the brim with knees, the truth was that my breath was caught for a moment I was quite worried about what was going to be a minute and a half of travel felt like an eternity, we rang to get off at the next stop, the door opened and a "nice" call from one of the passengers accompanied our exit from the bus. We were very happy to see that the reality of boycott and exclusion has changed in this line, of course we will continue to check this because we will not allow anyone to restrict our freedom.

A little about Rosa Louise Parks my inspiration. Rosa is African-American and active in the American civil rights movement. She is famous for her refusal in 1955 to vacate her seat on a bus to a white man - a refusal that led to her arrest. This arrest led, with the help of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which resulted in the public bus company abolishing its segregation policy. For her contribution, Rosa Parks was named to the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 1999 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for her anti-racism activism.

From here, I call on my fellow justice fighters and activists all over the country, let's change this reality. This is our time to enter the political sphere and influence from there as well, and certainly into the municipal space that determines the quality of our lives in the city where we live, raise our children. Our freedom depends on us!

I take this opportunity to send my congratulations to all the candidates in the municipal elections throughout the country in general and in the city of Ashdod in particular, and wish them great success.

Nurit Topaz, chairman and founder of the Tushvim movement, one of the leaders of the protest against the regime coup in Ashdod, has been an activist for equal opportunities and rights for two decades.

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