War of the wombs : the history and politics of fertility policies in Israel, 1948-2010

This thesis assesses the extent to which fertility policies in Israel have formed part of an overall population policy. It asks whether the state has encouraged its Jewish citizens to increase their fertility, and non-Iews, especially Arab citizens of ,~A' Israel, to decrease theirs in order to ensure a Jewish majority tltrough internal population growth. Some scholars have answered this question in the affirmative, and this thesis draws on a range of primary and secondary sources to determine the veracity of their claims. Spanning the period from 1948 to 2010, the periodised account confirms that demographic considerations have indeed sometimes influenced the formation of socio-economic and reproductive health policies. However, a range of other factors, including Orthodox beliefs, welfare concerns and feminist ideology, competed with these demographic considerations. Thus, fertility policies in Israel have constituted a war of the wombs on two separate levels: first, as a demographic battle between Jewish and non-Jewish wombs; and second, as a conflict between competing political parties and philosophies inside Israel over the political identity of the state. Moreover, Israel's war ofthe wombs mirrors broader struggles over fertility in a range of comparable historical and geographical contexts, which are also examined in the thesis. Thus, this thesis contributes not only to Israel studies and Palestine studies, but also to gender studies and comparative politics.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo