The Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere (WIPS)

The Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere, which is being established at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, will focus on linking the work of grassroots organizations to policy making, new legislation and broad social change.
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute's decision to establish the WIPS center stems from a belief in its guiding gender mainstreaming perspective, which involves the adaptation to the Israeli setting of a system-wide strategy meant to advance the democratic and egalitarian civil status of all groups. Gender mainstreaming necessitates the re-organization, promotion, development, and evaluation of policy processes so that gender equality concepts become an integral part of planning and implementation in all areas and at all levels. The center will carry out research, devise strategies and implement programs in matters related to the status of women and gender equality in the country. Its founders hope that it will become the main point of reference, source of knowledge, know-how, experience and academic resource, for all persons seeking to integrate gender mainstreaming in Israel.
The WIPS center is being established based on the recognition that currently there are numerous civil society organizations that are doing valuable work by initiating new projects and ideas addressed to women's groups that were previously excluded from mainstream society and often from the dominant feminist discourse as well. Nevertheless, in many cases these activities, initiated and promoted at the grassroots level, remain fragmented, temporary and with low impact on wider social change. One of the major reasons for the gap between social activity and social impact is that the former does not reach the levels of policy makers and legislators. WIPS aims to fill this gap by promoting strategies that can aggregate the impact of these presently disparate initiatives.
The Center is directed by Prof. Hanna Herzog and Prof. Naomi Chazan.
Ronna Brayer-Garb is the Academic Coordinator of WIPS.