Journal 3 in 2003
Bezugspunkte: Europa / Israel / USA

weiter I Übersicht I zurück

Deidre Berger
Shortage of Ambition

Too Few Women Have Been Elected or Appointed to Run Influential Organizations

If American Jewish organizations would drive the U.S. media and government, as some allege, then one thing is for sure - Jewish men would be running the world. Is it a surprise that Superman was the brainchild of a Jewish male illustrator?

Fortunately, stereotypes are just that – let me reassure you that American Jewish organizations are not as powerful as most people would like to think. Of course, we would never admit this too loudly in non-Jewish audiences – after all, power is primarily a matter of perception.

Still, it is true that American Jewish institutions exert considerable influence in the public sphere in the U.S., due in part to our community’s prodigious fund-raising capacities, and in part to high levels of education and an over-average level of political interest. There are dozens of national organizations whose representatives command public attention when they speak. And despite the feminist revolution having come and gone, most of these voices are male.

Despite the enormous contribution women have made to social, cultural and welfare organizations in the Jewish world, few have been elected or appointed to run the most influential organizations.

There is certainly no shortage of highly educated professional Jewish women in the U.S., particularly in fields like law, business, education, and social work, who could potentially become leaders. And there has been no shortage of women on boards of major Jewish organizations. There does seem to be a shortage, however, of Jewish women with the ambition to assume professional paid positions of leadership, or rather a shortage of candidates whose ambitions survive prevailing prejudices about women working largely in a male world. And there has been a shortage of women willing to tackle issues considered typical male preserves, such as international relations, terrorism, and political lobbying.

The consequence is that memory is shaped, and visions defined largely by the male half of the Jewish world. Consider for a moment the situation of Holocaust survivors, who were both male and female. The ownership of institutional Holocaust memory, however, has been exercised almost exclusively by men.

Basic positions on Israel, anti-Semitism and terrorism would be likely to stay the same even if they were articulated more often by women. However, leadership styles and organizational approaches would with great probability have a different stamp. And this strikes at the core of Jewish identity. Those who define our goals as a Jewish community, and administer the structures to achieve these ends determine much of organized Jewish identity. If few women participate in this process, we can expect little return on issues of particular meaning to us.

In Europe, there is possibly even less acceptance of women in leadership roles in the Jewish community than in the U.S., and even more mistrust of women. This is an area where American and European women can create an active exchange of ideas and experiences.

This is not always easy, however, due to mistrust among many European Jews toward American Jews, particularly in Germany. The prevailing attitude is that American Jews are only interested in their European brethren in order to spread their own particular brand of Judaism, whether or not it is culturally relevant.

In individual cases, this may be the case. However, the reality is generally far more complex. Many of the misunderstandings are based on a lack of knowledge about each other’s sphere. This mistrust can only be counter-productive, blocking a fruitful exchange of ideas. Women on both sides of the Atlantic can take much greater control of their identity through greater involvement in Jewish institutional life. The more we share of our ideas and visions, the further we can go together.

Deidre Berger - Managing Director of the American Jewish Committee Berlin Office, worked for 15 years for various media as a foreign correspondent based in Germany