ABSTRACT

The paper examines natality policies in ethnically divided and multicultural societies from the perspective of women’s and minority rights. Using Israel as an example, I will start by introducing Israel’s demographic policy and the measures it has taken in order to implement its official policy of promoting Jewish natality. The paper will then move on to a theoretical discussion of the use made by states and communities of the woman’s body as a demographic objective, by presenting various types of natality policies and evaluating them from a feminist perspective.

First I will examine whether it is legitimate for a state to set any natality policy. Concluding that it is, I will ask whether a state can set policies promoting an increase in natality and what measures can it use to implement such policies? I will claim that a state can neither apply ideological pressure on women, nor can it use measures such as those used by Israel who restricts abortions and mandates pre abortion counseling in order to increase natality.

I will move on to ask whether a state can promote a decrease in natality, and if so, in what ways? In particular, discussing the example of the ultra orthodox Jews in Israel, I will claim that a state is not required to respect alleged cultural precepts that demand inordinately high birth rates and discuss the balance it should strike between the demands of culture, the rights of women and economic considerations such as the unsustainability of very large families.

Finally, I will examine whether a state can set different natality policies for different segments of the population, and if so can it do so along ethnic lines? Using the case of Israel I will argue that while the Jewish people have a right to maintain an ethnic democracy in Israel, this right is subject to the constitutional recognition of the status of non Jewish citizens and to a strong protection for minority rights and consequently, even Israel’s status as an ethnic democracy does not give it the right to form natality policies along ethnic lines.