It's not coincidence the image of women empowerment in the U.S. is played by an Israeli actress -Wonder Woman- Gal Gadot.
The Israeli woman has always been sort of a Wonder Woman.
When you look at our natural surroundings as a country - the Middle East, most women there are still covering their faces, fighting for their right to drive. Meanwhile Israel had the first woman Prime Minister in 1969.
From our mandatory military service in the IDF, to our daily battle with strong, opinionated men in the streets of Tel Aviv, to growing up in bomb shelters, with gas masks, and sirens in the sky under clouds of terrorism, the Israeli woman had to face what most women never did.
When you look at women empowerment, Israeli style, the Israeli woman is tough, stubborn, and naturally powerful 🤷♀️
We are real, honest, upfront, bold.
We are fierce, in your face.
We are fueled with fire, in our eyes and soul.
We were raised to fight. For our country. For our life. For our family. For our career.
We were literally trained to fight, in the IDF.
It's in our roots.
For some of us it started with our grandparents from the Holocaust (Ashkenazi/European), for others it started with grandparents who lived as a foreign minority in a country that didn’t really want us (Safaradic).
In both cases, we were unwanted somewhere. And had to fight for our right to exist.
And we still do, even in our own country today.
With that fight, fire and passion for life comes our charm:
We don’t really give a f*** what people think or say about us - culturally we are used to being rejected.
We work hard, to get things done.
We protect each other and lift each other up - because we know that no one else will.
We flood each other’s social feed with compliments:
מהממת - stunning
מלכת עולם - queen of the world
את החיים עצמם - you are life itself
כובשת - you take over
And it gets deeper...
נשמה יפה - beautiful soul
And more than anything- we stick up for each other like no other “species”.
And I call us a species because we’re not a race. And we’re not a religion either.
We are not the typical Jewish woman (often named JAP🤷♀️)
We didn't grow up with the wealth, freedom and privilege that many American Jewish women had.
Growing up in Israel, surrounded by fighters, survivors - we fight for positions of power, and we clap for each other once we succeed.
We have an odd competitive/supportive relationship with each other, but it has its magic.
The Israeli woman was raised to create everything in her life herself, with her bare hands, and fight for it. Nothing was given to her. Everything was earned by hard work, motivation and dedication.
That is in our core values and life.
I believe that there is magic in the power of the Israeli woman that every woman has in her.
The ability to empower ourselves through challenges and through hard work is in all of us.
To not demand empowerment from others - but to earn it through action.
Just like respect - power is earned not demanded.
And if we all as women globally, take a little bit of the magic that exists in every culture, in every one of us and our heritage, we will witness a true empowerment movement.
I’m proud to contribute culturally to this movement, as an Israeli woman.
After all there are only 4 million of us in the world, so we can officially say that we are one in 4 million :)
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