influential women: feminist discourse in women's business magazines-the case of israel

Communication, Culture & Critique ISSN 1753-9129

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Influential Women: Feminist Discoursein Women’s Business Magazines—The Caseof Israel

Einat Lachover

Department of Communication, Sapir College, Tel Aviv, 62995, Israel

The study seeks to analyze how a major Israeli business magazine aimed at women—LadyGlobes—defines a successful ‘‘career woman.’’ Characterizing this discourse enables us toidentify the gendered and social ideology embedded in the magazine. The study concentrateson the magazine’s major projects, the choice of the ‘‘50 Most Influential Women’’ in Israel.The study indicates that the discourse in Lady Globes’s project is an expression of ‘‘careerfeminism.’’ The project seeks to empower the individual woman and it does not echo thecall of liberal feminism for a collective fight for a change in social policy. The dominanceof the business and financial sector reflects the magazine contribution to the discursivelegitimation of neoliberalism.

doi:10.1111/cccr.12005

This study seeks to analyze how a major Israeli business magazine aimed at womendefines what makes a successful ‘‘career woman.’’ Characterizing the nature of thisdiscourse enables us to identify the gendered and social ideology embedded inthe magazine. The study adopts the approach known as ‘‘ideological critique’’ or‘‘ideological analysis,’’ which derives from a long tradition of Marxist scholarshipdirected at understanding how it is that social relations based on injustice areperceived as natural and inevitable (Gill, 2007). The analysis focuses on Lady Globes,the more veteran of the two Israeli business magazines for women.1 As it has appearedmonthly since 19892 as an insert in the daily Israeli financial article Globes, establishedin 1983, it is possible to map changes in the discourse over the last 2 decades.

The study concentrates on one of the magazine’s major projects, the choice of the‘‘Woman of the Year,’’ later reformulated as the ‘‘50 Most Influential Women’’ inIsrael. Lists of this sort are common practice in the press in general, and in businessmagazines in particular, where annual rankings of people, events, or phenomena area familiar sight.

Corresponding author: Einat Lachover; e-mail: [email protected]

Communication, Culture & Critique 6 (2013) 121–141 © 2013 International Communication Association 121

Influential Women E. Lachover

The decision to devote a separate space to women in a periodical that is ostensiblygender-blind is a palpable indication that despite its claims to the contrary, the articleitself is aimed at men. Indeed, in the weekly Globes magazine section, for instance,the ads target a male audience, men appear on the cover, one of the regular sectionsis entitled ‘‘Mister G,’’ and other sections are devoted to wine and cars. In contrast,Lady Globes is explicitly aimed at businesswomen and the wives of businessmen(Cheker Institute, 2009).

The current article begins with a theoretical section reviewing changes in theIsraeli economy, most significantly the processes of capitalist globalization andneoliberalism. We then discuss the status of women in the Israeli labor market. Thisis followed by a discussion of the concept of ‘‘career woman’’ and her representationin the media, and particularly in business magazines. Next, the theoretical conceptof ‘‘career feminism’’ is introduced, and the complex gender discourse that emergesfrom, and is constructed by, women’s magazines, especially those for working women,is discussed. The article then presents the results of a study analyzing coverage ofthe ‘‘Woman of the Year’’/‘‘Influential Women’’ project in Lady Globes from itsinception in 1990 until 2010, including analysis of the short texts about the careerwomen accompanying the lists. In light of the results, it is argued that the Lady Globesproject seeks to empower the individual woman through personal transformation,with the focus on improving her career, and therefore reflects ‘‘career feminism.’’This contention is placed in the broader theoretical context of the different trends inthe feminist movement, the Israeli feminist movement, and the transition to globalcapitalism and neoliberalism.

Changes in the Israeli economy: Capitalist globalization and neoliberalismIsraeli society has not been impervious to neoliberalism. On the contrary, in thepast 3 decades the country has undergone extensive economic, cultural, and politicalchange that can be attributed in large part to a process of capitalist globalization(Filc & Ram, 2004). Basically, this involves a transition from the Keynesian model ofcapitalism,3 to the post-Keynesian, or neoliberal, model. In other words, the countryretreated from socially responsible economic activity and regulatory practices (Filc,2004). One of the results of this change was a widening of social and economic gaps.Where Israel had been one of the world’s most egalitarian societies in the 1960s,characterized by an ideology of equality and a high level of economic regulation, itnow became one of the least egalitarian of the industrialized nations (Ohana, 1998;Bareli, Gutwein, & Friling, 2005).4 Filc and Ram (2004) contend that Israel standsout from other capitalist countries for a lack of social and political opposition to theeffects of this system on the sectorial and class structure of society.5

Public discourse on the socioeconomic change in Israel is typified by a depo-liticalization of the subject and its presentation as a process stemming solely fromfunctional–professional considerations. Such discourse obscures the existence of apolicy deliberately aimed at altering the balance of power in Israeli society (Bareli,Gutwein, & Friling, 2005), and divorces fiscal policy from social issues (Doron, 2004).

122 Communication, Culture & Critique 6 (2013) 121–141 © 2013 International Communication Association

E. Lachover Influential Women

The single empirical study examining the representation of capitalist values in theIsraeli media found a distinct Americanization in the rhetoric of advertisements (First& Avraham, 2009).

Women in the Israeli labor marketAs in other countries around the world, opening the local economy to the global mar-ket and neoliberalism brought with it the inclusion and advancement of women in theIsraeli labor market (Fogiel-Bijaoui, 2005).6 Consequently, since the 1970s there hasbeen a constant rise in the proportion of women in the work force, which by 2008 hadreached 51.3% of all women, as compared to 62% of all men (Ash Kurlander, 2010).

The growing entrance of Israeli women into the work force also enabled a certainpercentage of them to advance and develop a career, especially in areas such as law,communications, medicine, high-tech, and the capital market (Fogiel-Bijaoui, 2007).

During this same period, a substantial number of ‘‘feminist’’ laws were enactedthat promoted the ethos of a meritocracy in the neoliberal labor market. Thislegislation, which purported to afford every individual, regardless of gender, an equalopportunity, established the status of a working woman as an employee deservingof recognition and compensation in accordance with her skills, training, and efforts(Berkowitz, 2001).

The change in the status of women in the work force also came to bear onthe social level. Paid employment became a key component of a woman’s identity,and quite a few men, particularly in the younger generation, began to regard theirpartners’ jobs not only as a normative contribution to the home and family, but alsoas a source of pride (Izraeli, 1999). This led in turn to a new perception of the conceptof ‘‘career women.’’

In earlier periods in Israel’s history, the desire for a career was considered anegative attribute, the attempt to promote personal interests at the expense of society.Women in particular were expected to place their family above all else, and thereforeeither repressed their own ambitions for professional advancement or found itdifficult to fulfill them (Bar-Yosef & Levi, 1977; Izraeli, 1982; Pfefferman, 2011). Asthis ideology began to fade in the 1980s, the concept of career came to be viewedmore favorably and was seen as a legitimate goal even for women (Izraeli, 2006).Fogiel-Bijaoui (2005) offers the following description of the change in the attitude tothe career woman in the public discourse in Israel:

To judge by the mainstream print and electronic media in Israel, today ‘‘careerwoman’’ is a new construct of femininity, a femininity that symbolizes commit-ment to the job, skills, training, self-fulfillment, and success. This type of femininityis also a central cultural icon in contemporary neoliberal discourse. (p. 190)

The career woman and her representation in the mediaLady Globes appeals to a woman who has a ‘‘career’’ and not simply a ‘‘job.’’ Thedistinction between the two is based on a number of criteria, including commitment,professional mobility, and employment status (Kulik, 2010). Thus, Lady Globes



readers are expected to be educated, highly paid employees who are committed totheir work.

The sociologist Mary Blair-Loy (2003) identifies two cultural schemas: devotionto work, or the willingness to establish and maintain a career; and devotion tofamily, or the dedication of maximum time and energy to one’s children. Accordingto Blair-Loy, the devotion to work schema stems not from external necessity, butfrom cultural norms allied with American capitalism in the 20th and 21st centuries.However, studies of women and work indicate that they are still caught in a doublebind in respect to their professional competence. Krefting (2002), for example,distinguishes between two types of women: traditional women, and career womenwho do not adhere to the traditional norms. The former, who do not compete withmen for economic resources, win favor, but are also treated patronizingly since theyare seen to be incompetent. The latter, serious competitors for resources, are metwith hostility. Thus both types arouse a sexist response, what Glick and Fiske (1999)call ambivalent sexism, which leaves no room for a positive option.

Whereas the American gender order is said to conceptualize work devotion andfamily devotion as mutually exclusive, forcing professional women to choose betweenactive motherhood and high-profile careers, in the traditional Israeli gender order,professional middle-class women face a different set of expectations. The pronatalistculture characteristic of the Israeli middle class expects women to produce andreproduce at one and the same time (Frenkel, 2008; Izraeli, 1997a, 1997b). It istherefore interesting to learn how the representation of the Israeli career woman hasdeveloped over the last 2 decades.

While the representation of women in the news has been the subject of researchefforts around the world for many years and is periodically reexamined (e.g., Byerly &Ross, 2006; World Association for Christian Communication, 2010), the representa-tion of businesswomen or female executives in the media has received little attention(Krefting, 2002), and no previous study has evaluated how Israeli career womenare depicted in the local media. The few existing American studies have focused onfeminine values in business manuals (Fondas in Krefting, 2002) and in the op-edpages of the Wall Street Journal (Krefting, 1999, 2000), and on the representationof women executives in the news section of the Wall Street Journal (Krefting, 2002).The last of these produced a rather complex picture. Of the 22 women executivesanalyzed in the study, two were valorized by the article for competing on men’s terms,tolerating some limitations, and patiently waiting for further change; the depictionsof 11 were fractured, that is, references to positive traits were coupled with explicit orimplicit reservations; and nine were devalorized in representations that questionedtheir competence and likeability as managers. In other words, the study providedfurther evidence of the continued existence of the double bind in which women arecaught.

In addition, two recent American studies examined the work/family conflictamong mothers and the media representation of women who stopped working inorder to care for their children, or what New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin termed



the ‘‘opt out revolution.’’ Williams, Manvell, and Bornstein (2006) critique theway news stories about these women focus overwhelmingly on those in managerialpositions, who comprise only about 8% of American women, point to the pull offamily life as the main reason why women quit, whereas most women cite workplacepushes as a key motivation for their decision, and paint an unrealistic picture of howeasy it will be for them to reenter the workforce. Vavrus (2007) reveals the role newsitems play in the discursive legitimation of neoliberalism by deploying the rhetoricof free choice by mothers rather than linking their personal lives to larger politicalstructures. She concludes that ‘‘opting out’’ discourse in the news ‘‘allows the systemof turbo capitalism to stand with its practices unthreatened, using post-feministcommentary that displaces blame for opting out mothers’ job dissatisfaction onfeminist teachings and individual employers’’ (p. 59).

Career feminismFerree and Hess (2000) coined the term ‘‘career feminism’’ as part of their typology ofmajor feminist principles. The typology is based on the limits of individualism, bothas means and as ends of social change, characterizing the different feminist trendsaccording to the distinction between personal transformation and sociopoliticalchange.

Their analysis centers around the questions: ‘‘Is the whole purpose of feminismto produce free and unfettered individuals or to create a new form of community?Is feminism to be realized through individual transformation (and consequentsociopolitical change) or through a sociopolitical struggle that creates the conditionsfor individual transformation?’’ (p. 49) In light of these questions, they map thevarieties of modern feminism in the following manner:

MEANS

Sociopolitical Change Personal Transformation

ENDS Free Individualism Career LiberalNew Communities Radical Socialist

The authors explain that the terms employed in the table are meant describedifferent emphases, and not necessarily opposing trends. Thus, according to thismapping, career and liberal feminism share a desire for free individualism in existingsociety (in contrast to radical and socialist feminism, which seek to establish new socialframeworks). However, career feminism seeks to achieve this goal through personaltransformation rather than sociopolitical change, while liberal feminism regardssocial policy as an important force in affording access to economic opportunity andcivil rights. Liberal feminists therefore fought hard for the Equal Rights Amendmentas an affirmation of women’s individualism and personhood. In other words, careerfeminism aspires to free the individual woman in a ‘‘world of men,’’ not to free all



women by changing society, stressing the need for women to take their lives intotheir own hands and dare to be what they can become. This orientation centerson a woman’s right to any sort of job in society, even those that have traditionallybeen defined as male. Each woman must discover her own potential and learn to actassertively. Consequently, career feminism can be said to go hand in hand with theprinciples of capitalism and neoliberalism.

The complex gender discourse in women’s magazinesThe genre of women’s magazines took shape in the 18th and early 19th centuriesin Britain and America.7 For many years, ‘‘classic’’ feminism critique came outagainst the way in which the media in general, and women’s magazines in particular,perpetuate and disseminate gender identities. Researchers and activists from thesecond wave of feminism were harshly critical of these periodicals, claiming that theircontent and copious ads present a narrow and debasing stereotype of women andserve as an ideological mechanism for restricting women to the domestic world aspart of the system of patriarchal repression and domination (Byerly & Ross, 2006;Tuchman, 1978).

In her landmark book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan, one of the leadersof the American feminist movement in the 1960s, argued that the central feminineimage that emerges from women’s magazines is that of a woman for whom thehome is the ultimate source of happiness. Criticism of this sort pointed to what wasregarded as the ‘‘wrong’’ image of women presented in periodicals, and called for‘‘more realistic’’ or ‘‘more positive’’ representation in line with the ideology of thefeminist movement (Gough-Yates, 2003).

The liberal feminism exemplified by Friedan was gradually replaced by neo-Marxist feminism which drew on the concept of hegemony as defined in 1971 bythe Marxist theoretician Antonio Gramsci (Gill, 2007). By adopting the concept ofhegemony, scholars could now claim that women’s magazines constitute a site notonly for the repressive ideological manipulation of women, but also for the politicalnegotiations in civil society between the interests of domination and submission(Gough-Yates, 2003).

In her pivotal study Inside Women’s Magazines, published in 1987, Janice Winshipadopted Gramsci’s approach to examine the shifting content of British women’smagazines from 1950 to 1980 against the backdrop of the broader changes in thestatus of women in British society. Winship maintained that the magazines displaysurvival skills, relating to the feminine dilemmas relevant to each period, a strategyshe terms an ‘‘ideological juggling act.’’ This study adopts the same approach,emphasizing the diverse voices, versions, and contradictions in the representationof women not only at different times, but also at the same time and in the samepublication.

Another key characteristic of women’s magazines is their ‘‘can-do’’ philosophy.Women are represented as able to achieve anything if they work hard enough andfollow the advice the magazines offer. What is promised is individual transformation,



rather than social transformation. Gill (2007) discusses this aspect in the context ofthe relationship between women’s magazines and feminism. According to Gill, onthe one hand, ‘‘for some feminists this marks a rupture because not all the problemswomen face can be solved individually’’ (p. 200), but on the other hand, ‘‘the emphasison women’s strength, talents, ability to succeed is not ‘nothing’, and the fact that itis articulated to individual ends does not necessarily render it completely worthless. . . Magazines can offer useful and empowering advice to deal with immediate andpainful difficulties’’ (p. 202).

The first privately owned women’s magazines appeared in Israel around the timeof the establishment of the State in 1948.8 Regarded as a genre of little value, theyreceived no scholarly attention until just over a decade ago, when Herzog (2000,2006) laid the foundations for research into this sector of the Israeli media. In arecent analysis of the models of femininity in Israeli periodicals for women in the1960s, Lachover (2011) demonstrated the simultaneous existence of two conflictingrepresentations: traditional women and independent women. This study focuses ona specific subgenre of women’s magazines, those that deal with the business world,exploring the kind of representation of career women it offers.

Women’s magazines and working womenMost women’s magazines recognize the fact that women increasingly work outsidethe home, whether out of necessity or desire. Nevertheless, the periodicals devotelittle attention to the work world as compared to the subjects of leisure, consumerism,homemaking, and sex. Moreover, problems of social inequality in the workplace arenot presented in the feminist context, with a woman’s work perceived as a ‘‘job’’rather than a ‘‘career’’ (Ballaster et al., 1991). Indeed, Keller (1994), who studied40 years of American women’s magazines, found that they promote the maintenanceof a gendered division of labor, both in the home and in the workplace.

In an analysis of developments in women’s magazines in Britain in the 1980s and1990s, Gough-Yates (2003) describes the circumstances surrounding the rise and fallof Working Woman, sister to the U.S. magazine of the same name. Working Womanwas launched in the UK in 1984 in response to the belief of advertisers and marketresearchers that sales of women’s magazines were dropping because women weretired of their traditional content. Defined as a British magazine for ‘‘career women,’’the new periodical was expected to draw a large circulation from among youngprofessional women. In actuality, the stress on the work world and avoidance of thetraditional topics of home, leisure, and indulgence did not prove to be successful. Acommercial failure, the magazine was shut down in 1987. According to Gough-Yates,the British publishing world concluded that ‘‘a magazine that focuses its editorialaround the often dull and un-pleasurable realm of ‘work’ is a risky venture altogether’’(p. 94).

An exception to this rule are magazines aimed at younger women who aresingle, educated, employed, regard their work as a career, and are interested inprofessional advancement. Cosmopolitan, in particular, promotes the idea of a



working woman imbued with motivation and dynamic energy, publishing a regularsection entitled ‘‘Career Ahead.’’ Items in this section focus on midstatus professionsand are accompanied by pictures of slim young models in fashionable business suitsconducting meetings or giving instructions to their colleagues (Ballaster et al., 1991).Ballaster and her colleagues emphasize that no space is afforded here, or anywhereelse in the magazine for that matter, to the issue of discrimination against women inthe workplace or to the practical problems with which working women are forced tocontend. Chic, on the other hand, devotes considerable attention to gender, as well asracial, discrimination in the work world (Ballaster et al., 1991). However, accordingto Gough-Yates (2003), all the new magazines aimed at young women steered clearof addressing them as ‘‘working women’’ because ‘‘whilst work was understood tobe part of the make-up of the identity of the ‘New Woman,’ it was seen to be a riskylifestyle orientation for a women’s magazine’’ (p. 95).

Despite the increased research interest in women’s magazines in recent years,much more remains to be learned about the manner in which different periodicalsperceive the role of work in women’s lives. In an effort to increase understandingof this issue, this study examines the nature of the feminist discourse in an Israelimagazine for businesswomen, Lady Globes, and seeks to place it in the broadercontexts of the world feminist movement, the Israeli feminist movement, and theideologies of capitalism and neoliberalism.

Method

CorpusThe selection of the ‘‘Woman of the Year’’/‘‘Influential Women’’ appears every yearin the September edition of Lady Globes in honor of the Jewish New Year. Theproject was introduced in the magazine’s second year of publication (1990) and hascontinued to appear annually up to the present. From 1990 to 2003 it was known as‘‘The Lady Globes Woman of the Year,’’ and from 2004 to 2010 as ‘‘The 50 MostInfluential Women’’ (in Israel). This study analyzed all the pages devoted to theproject in each of the 21 issues in which it has appeared to date.

AnalysisThe texts were analyzed using Gramschi’s approach of ideological critique oranalysis, a methodology employed in other studies of women’s magazines as well(e.g., Winship, 1987). The patterns and themes in the gender representation in thetexts were examined, while keeping in mind that ideology is best understood as adiscursive phenomenon, and is therefore often fragmented and contradictory (Gill,2007). Three primary analyses were performed: (a) analysis of the texts devotedto the project, including explication of the aims, process of selection, and criteriaemployed, and changes in these elements over time; (b) comparison of the lists ofwomen selected each year in terms of diversity, sociodemographic profile, and fieldof endeavor (economics, law, public service, science, culture and the arts, community



work). In certain years, the magazine itself divided the women by fields. When themagazine did not provide such a categorization, the criteria it used in other yearswere applied to the list by the author; (c) analysis of the short texts about the selectedwomen that accompanied the lists.

Results

Objectives: empowerment of womenAlthough the word ‘‘feminism’’ never appears in the coverage, analysis of the textsrelating to the objectives of the project reveals a dialog with thoroughly feministprinciples. As Israeli organizations and institutions that work to promote women tosenior positions in the public and business sectors refrain from identifying themselvesas feminist (Izraeli, 1999), it comes as no surprise that the ‘‘F-word’’ is consideredtaboo by the magazine. Nevertheless, given the references to the empowerment ofwomen in the public sphere, the definition of its goals speak to a feminist attitude,that is, the desire to highlight the presence of women in key posts in the publicspace so that they may serve as role models for other women, thereby makingpositions of power more accessible to women in general. Over the years, the aim ofempowerment became more distinct and was presented in more direct and explicitform. Thus, at the start of the project, in 1990, the goal was defined as: ‘‘Turningthe spotlight on female excellence, as reflected in diverse fields of endeavor in theeconomy and society’’ (Lady Globes Sept. 1990, p. 14). In 1993, the aim was expressedas: ‘‘Turning the spotlight on excellence and being a partner in creating a modernIsraeli feminine awareness’’ (Lady Globes, Sept. 1993, p. 27). By 2002, the themeof empowerment was substantially more manifest, with the goal defined as: ‘‘Anhomage to and recognition of women who are successful in their field . . . Anindication to women in different fields not to submit to the mythical ‘glass ceiling’. . . Each of the women selected is a source of inspiration for women in Israel and. . . will contribute to the increased presence of women in decision making circles inthe economic and business community’’ (Lady Globes, Sept. 2002, p. 12). In 2005,the statement of the project’s objectives actually contained criticism of the media forexcluding women, with the magazine claiming: ‘‘There is a need to acknowledge andhighlight the significant presence of numerous women in positions of influence anddecision making—for as long as they are not properly represented on other scalesand rankings published in the media’’ (Lady Globes Sept. 2005, p. 22).

Selection process: Ranking and competitionThe editors of Lady Globes repeatedly reassessed the elements of ranking andcompetition between the contenders for the title of ‘‘Woman of the Year’’ orinclusion on the list of ‘‘Influential Women.’’ In each of the first 6 years of the project,a large pool of candidates was narrowed down to a short list of 10 names from whichthe ‘‘Woman of the Year’’ was chosen. In the seventh year, objections were raisedagainst this form of ranking, and it was decided that the title and prize would be



awarded to all 10 women on the short list. The explanation given by the editors foreliminating the competitive aspect indicates a desire to promote collectivism andsolidarity among women:

Why ten who are one? Because in retrospect, this year we reached the conclusionthat we are missing the mark in terms of the core intention of ‘‘Woman of theYear.’’ It is not our intent to add another competition to the arena of Israelicompetitiveness, but to turn the spotlight on women’s excellence, commitment,and achievements. And all ten women presented here embody that, each oneindividually. What is the purpose of creating competition among them whenthey are all worthy, when their whole lives they already have to compete, maybeeven fight tooth and nail, in the male society that is not open to the modernIsraeli woman and her abilities, achievements, and rights. (Lady Globes Sept.1996, p. 14).

Nonetheless, the magazine reverted to a ranking system in the following years, apractice that reached its height in 2004 when it began to rank the 50 most influentialwomen in Israel and crown the figure at the top of the list. It switched back again thenext year, choosing to present the list without ranking the women on it (althougha ‘‘Woman of the Year’’ was still selected). In 2006, the original hierarchical formatwas reinstated on the grounds that this is how ‘‘it is done in the general media,and especially in the financial press’’ (Lady Globes, Oct. 2006, p. 8). This format hasbeen retained every year since. However, the fluctuations in the process of selectionover time evidence the fact that the magazine questioned the legitimacy of ranking,although it ultimately opted for the hierarchical, competitive format.

The use of a ranking system presupposes that those higher up on the ladder aremore worthy than those on the lower rungs, and that the goal is always to climb tothe top, to compete against the other contenders and get ahead of them. In somecases, the annual ranking is compared with that of the previous year, thereby stressingthe supposed dynamic nature of the system. Furthermore, ranking is perceived asa scientific method, as it assumes that all the relevant variables can be measuredprecisely and objectively. Communications theorists view the need to provide thepublic with factual data as part of the professional paradigm of journalists, who utilizefigures as a rhetorical means of empowerment (Roeh & Feldman, 1984). Journalistsare expected, both in their own minds and by the public, to reflect ‘‘actual reality’’ andsupply the ‘‘bottom line’’ (Neiger, 2010). The hierarchical ranking system employedin the Lady Globes project also reflects an individualistic and capitalistic perception,as it assumes that the importance of different people can be compared by means of asingle criterion, in this case their economic influence. From a feminist point of view,one would argue that contributions of different kinds cannot be compared in thismanner, since all of them are crucial to the well-being of the community.

Moreover, the variables measured in the Lady Globes project relate to theindividual, rather than the group or community. In addition, they involve issues suchas influence, success, power, relevance, promise, profitability, and so on, with no



reference to weaknesses, difficulties, or obstacles. The result is simplistic superficialcoverage devoted solely to presenting the current positions on the ladder, withoutany deeper or interpretative commentary on the subject.

Selection criteria: Money and powerAnalysis of the texts presenting the criteria for the selection of the ‘‘Woman of theYear’’/‘‘Influential Women’’ shows that over the years, the criteria of money andpower became increasingly significant. When the project was initially introduced in1990, the ‘‘Woman of the Year’’ was described as ‘‘an independent, modern, successfulwoman facing challenges’’ who would be selected on the basis of outstandingachievements in her field, the development of an independent career, the ability toput ideas into practice, the willingness to take initiative and risks, high-level decisionmaking, and contribution to society (Lady Globes, Sept. 1990, p. 12). Three years later,more criteria were added: charisma, dynamic activity, innovation, determination,and leadership qualities.

The second phase of the project saw a substantial change in the criteria for thechoice of those who would now be known as ‘‘Influential Women.’’ The previous listof criteria was replaced by two new measures. The first was the budget the candidatecontrolled, that is, money, and the second the number of people under her, that is,power. No reference of any kind was made to the essential nature of her influence.

The increasing emphasis on money and power echoes the changes in Israelisociety described above: the transition to capitalist globalization and neoliberalism.At the same time, however, the project discourse also reveals a critical examination ofthe financial component. Thus, for example, in 2010 the editor again felt it necessaryto reply to the question of why the magazine needed its own separate list, in additionto the one that appeared in its ‘‘father’’ periodical, Globes. Her answer stressed notonly the quantitative exclusion of women from the general list, but also the desire tocreate an alternative ranking that reflected different values:

Almost all the women executives in the general list of 50 come from one field:finance. Should all other activities be excluded? There is no doubt in our mindsthat the ranking of influential women allows for a more diverse, profound, andinclusive presentation of the leading women in Israel. (Lady Globes, Sept. 2010,p. 12).

The key role of money in the discourse also emerges from analysis of the fieldsin which the women made their career. Throughout the years of the project, themajority was involved in the business or financial sectors, although in the early yearsa certain attempt was made to challenge the definition of the endeavors that qualify asa career. In 1993, for instance, the editor sought to broaden this definition, declaring:‘‘The scope has been opened, diversified, and the term ‘career’ is no longer limitedstrictly to a career in business’’ (Lady Globes, Sept. 1993, p. 27). Similarly, in 1994,the magazine stated: ‘‘The title ‘career woman’ has broad meaning. Why limit it tomanaging a successful business?’’ (Lady Globes, Sept. 1994, p. 10). Yet even in these



Table 1 Field of Endeavor of Women Selected, by Year (%)

1990–2003N = 133

2004N = 50

2005a

N = 502006

N = 502007a

N = 502008

N = 502009

N = 502010

N = 50

Business & finance 50 46 24 54 60 50 58 48Public sector 16 20 22 28 26 20 20 16Culture & the arts 13 10 16 4 6 12 14 6Society & community 4 12 12 10 6 10 4 8Academia, science,

medicine13 4 12 4 2 8 4 22

Law 4 8 14 — — — — —

aCategorized by the author.

years, about half of the women chosen worked in business or finance, as shown inTable 1.9

Reference to values antithetical to money and power can be found in the wakeof the Nobel Prize awarded to the Israeli chemist Professor Ada Yonat in 2010. Theranking published that year showed a distinct preference for the field of science,which was represented by 22% of the women on the list (an increase of severalhundred percent over previous years). Although the magazine did not explicitlymention any link between the two facts, there was clearly a connection betweenthem, as the editorial column referred at length to Professor Yonat’s achievementand she was afforded the unique title of ‘‘Woman of the Decade.’’ In explainingthe criteria for their choices that year, the editors expressed nostalgia for a differentsort of values, remarking: ‘‘Israel, as reflected in the activities of these women, whorepresent courage, integrity, intellectual curiosity, and consistent excellence, is theattractive pioneering Israel. The one we long to experience once again. It is right hereamong us’’ (Lady Globes, Sept. 2010, p. 12).

Profile of the women selected: Exclusion and homogeneityBeyond the explicit, allegedly professional, criteria employed for the choice of‘‘Woman of the Year’’/‘‘Influential Women,’’ analysis of the profile of those selectedreveals the existence of additional, implicit, criteria. The typical ‘‘Lady Globes’’ is ahegemonic Israeli woman: Jewish, Ashkenazi, bourgeois, and secular, she is native-born or came to the country at an early age. Israeli women from the working class orfrom other national or ethnic communities are almost totally excluded.

In the first phase of the project (1990–2003), a total of eight ‘‘others’’ (mostlyIsraeli Arabs) managed to make their way onto the list, together representing 6%of all the honorees. In the second phase (2004–2010), however, the list becameeven more homogeneous, with only three ‘‘others,’’ constituting one half of onepercent, designated ‘‘influential women.’’ Furthermore, whereas in the first phase themagazine occasionally related to the issue of cultural diversity, stressing (albeit ratherinaccurately) that the women represented ‘‘all sectors of Israeli society—native-born,



Table 2 Lady Globes ‘‘Woman of the Year,’’ by Yeara

Year Name Position

1990 Edna Ross Owner, Ross Tabor 881991 Prof. Solange Axelrod Physicist1992 Hannah Levitt Asst. Director, Zur Shamir Insurance Co.1993 Drora Goshen-Meskin Asst. Chief Eng., Israel Aircraft Industries1994 Pnina Dan Head of R&D, Tadiran2004 Ruth Arnon Developed flu vaccine2005 Tzipi Livni Minister of Justice & Immigrant Absorption2006 Dorit Beinisch Pres. of the Supreme Court2007 Shari Arison Owner, Arison Holdings & controlling

shareholder, Bank Hapoalim2008 Galia Maor CEO, Bank Leumi2009 Shari Arison Owner, Arison Holdings & controlling

shareholder, Bank Hapoalim2010 Zahavit Cohen CEO, Apax Partners Israel

aFrom 1995 to 2003, the magazine published an unranked list without choosing a ‘‘Woman of the Year.’’

new immigrants, religious, secular, Arab, younger, older’’ (Lady Globes, Sept. 1999,p. 12), in the following years it ceased to make such unfounded claims.

Further evidence of the lack of cultural diversity is provided by the names of thewomen who head the list, shown in Table 2.

The women selected in the first phase of the project were totally unknown to thepublic. However, in the second phase, and more precisely from 2005, they were allhighly familiar figures who, not surprisingly, also made the general lists of ‘‘Personsof the Year’’ compiled by Israeli business magazines.

The narrative point of view: IndividualismThe short texts about each woman reveal the individualist stance adopted by theproject. The text tells the woman’s personal story, outlining the professional roadshe took until she reached her present position and her outstanding achievements.The focus is on her abilities and accomplishments in terms of universal values. Onthe whole, the women are described as highly talented, dynamic individuals withleadership qualities who are involved in a wide range of activities and have made theright educational and professional choices in their lives. Here is a typical example:

Rakefet Russak-Aminach, the youngest director of Bank Leumi, serves as thehead of its corporate division which handles the bank’s heaviest clients. This positionmakes her one of the senior credit managers in Israel. She is closely associated withCEO Galia Maor, and is rumored to have been singled out as her successor. She holdsa BA summa cum laude in accounting and economics and an MBA cum laude witha specialty in financing and accounting. . . She also has a law degree (Lady Globes,Oct. 2006, p. 51).



The text describing Zahavit Cohen, CEO of Apax Partners Israel and Chair ofTnuva, chosen as Woman of the Year in 2010, illustrates the persistence of thestereotype of a successful career woman as tough, assertive, and unfeminine.

They say she’s a killer, that she uses people up and throws them away, that shewill charm you to the limit to get what she wants. Let them say what they will. Inthe meantime, with rare self-confidence, Zahavit Cohen is conquering the heightsthat she has marked out for herself, one by one. After purchasing Tnuva, theCEO of Apax purchased the investment house Psagot. Along the way, she madea huge profit from the exit from Bezeq . . . She’s not the daughter of a tycoonor an industrialist. She grew up in a simple low-income home, Mizrachi (ofIraqi descent), and yet she climbed to the highest position by virtue of her acutemind. She is the ultimate success story. (Lady Globes, Sept. 2010, pp. 44–46)

Cohen herself is quoted in the text as saying: When I was performing due diligenceon Psagot, I wasn’t happy with myself. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I didn’t see my sonfor six months. I had a crisis with him afterwards. He didn’t want to see me (LadyGlobes, Sept. 2010, pp. 44–46).

The magazine has adopted an individualist stance throughout the years of theproject since its very inception, diverging from it only in 1999. The exception seemsto prove the rule. In that year, the short interviews serving as the basis for thetexts included questions about the broader sociopolitical context of the woman’sactivities. Thus, for example, Attorney Orna Levine, chair of the Bar Association’sTel Aviv district, was asked: ‘‘Why is this year the first time a woman was chosen forthe position?’’ and ‘‘What about discrimination in the compensation for men andwomen?’’ (Lady Globes, Sept.-Oct. 1999, p. 14). Yehudit Gal, a division head in theTeva pharmaceutical company, was asked: ‘‘Did the fact that you’re a woman affectyour career development?’’ (Lady Globes, Sept.-Oct. 1999, p. 25). Esther Eldan, CEOof Haifa Chemicals Ltd., was asked: ‘‘Why do so few women have senior positions?’’and ‘‘What advantages do you bring as a woman to managing a company?’’ (LadyGlobes, Sept.-Oct. 1999, p. 25). And Michal Hameiri, marketing manager of Tnuva,was asked: ‘‘How does it feel to be a woman in such a key job in a huge concern likeTnuva?’’ (Lady Globes, Sept.-Oct. 1999, p. 26). Thus, unlike other years when the textshighlighted personal responsibility and success and the constant striving to be thebest, the issue of 1999 also contained a discourse of social and public responsibility.

The search for an alternativeIn 2005, the daily financial article The Marker appeared on the scene in Israel,competing with Globes.10 Soon afterward, it too began to publish The Marker Women(henceforth: TMWomen) aimed at a female audience. In its January–February issueof 2007, TMWomen introduced a project under the heading ‘‘Women Making aChange’’ that was meant to be an alternative to Lady Globes’s ‘‘Influential Women.’’The magazine presented a list of forty women described as ‘‘making a change’’and a ‘‘rising social force’’ in Israeli society. The goal of the project was defined as



‘‘spotlighting women who are motivated by the will to make a change, women atthe forefront of social activity who succeed in making a real change . . . women whodedicate themselves to others in a variety of different fields’’ (TMWomen, Jan.-Feb.2007, p. 8). In a paraphrase of Lady Globes’s ‘‘influential women,’’ TMWomen’schoices were called ‘‘the right women’’ and ‘‘women who fight for a better future.’’The discourse in the issue expressly challenged the definition of the values at the coreof the Lady Globes project with the statement: ‘‘We usually write about women whohave succeeded financially. This time, in a special project of TMWomen, we havechosen to call attention to women who are motivated by the will to make a change’’(TMWomen, Jan.-Feb. 2007, p. 8).

Whereas the cover of the annual issue of Lady Globes presenting the year’s ‘‘50Most Influential Women’’ features a large portrait of the ‘‘Woman of the Year’’looking singularly serious and dignified, much like any official portrait, the coverof the project issue of TMWomen conveyed a totally different spirit. It showed all40 women in pictures of equal size. They are photographed performing an actiontypical of their work or holding an object symbolizing their field, thereby placing theemphasis on what they do rather than who they are. The pictures are dynamic, oreven amusing. The short texts accompanying the list of the selected women make nomention of their family status or education, focusing instead on their activities andquoting at length from the women themselves. The profiles of the 40 women selectedshowed them to be involved in social activism in a range of fields, including education,health, culture, environment, human and civil rights, and even women’s rights.

TMWomen therefore represented a socialist feminist voice, as it focused onwomen who challenge pervasive capitalist values. However, this socialist message didnot last long. A year later, the magazine retreated from its revolutionary goals, and theproject drew closer in nature to that of Lady Globes. The January 2008 issue centeredaround the ‘‘40 Women Leading Change,’’ most of whom were not unknown, butrather familiar public figures and society women. Where TMWomen had previouslyrefrained from measuring the contribution of the women on the list in terms ofmoney, preferring to stress other resources and describing its choices as ‘‘womenwho devote their time and energy—not necessarily their money—to working tomake a change with their own hands’’ (TMWomen, Jan.-Feb. 2007, p. 8), this time itchose ‘‘women who devote of their time, knowledge, professionalism, and, of course,money’’ to this cause (TMWomen, March-April 2008, p. 8). In addition, whereas inthe first year of the project, the women were categorized by field of endeavor, withoutany ranking, in the second year a ‘‘winner’’ was crowned. Not surprisingly, she camefrom the world of finance: the controlling shareholder in Israel’s largest commercialbank who frequently appears on the list of ‘‘movers and shakers’’ in the financial press.

Discussion: Discourse of personal transformation

This study indicates that the main thrust of the discourse in the ‘‘Woman of theYear’’/‘‘Influential Women’’ project in the women’s business magazine Lady Globes



is what Ferree and Hess (2000) term ‘‘career feminism,’’ although other types offeminist discourse are also represented. On the whole, the Lady Globes projects callsfor equal rights and opportunities for individual women in the existing sociopoliticalorder, and does not reject the male world. The aim of the project is to enable womento fulfill their potential and exercise their rights in the same way that men can. Thisdiscourse ignores enduring trends of gender inequality and obstacles experienced bywomen in the labor market, as recent studies conducted on American (e.g., England,2006), global (e.g., Jeanes et al., 2011) and Israeli (e.g., Tamir, 2007) samples continueto show. Furthermore, the discourse in the Lady Globes project focuses mainly on the‘‘work schema,’’ rather than the ‘‘family schema,’’ in Blair-Loy’s terms, thus reflectingcapitalist cultural norms. It therefore also ignores the tension between the obligationto work and the obligation to the family with which career women must contend,especially in Israel, where they are expected to fulfill both obligations.

As we have seen, throughout the years, the dominant discourse in Lady Globesreveals the central importance of the values of power, hierarchy, competition, money,sociocultural hegemony, and individualism. Although the voice of socialist feminism,which seeks to challenge the existing capitalist order, may have been heard in thediscourse from time to time (e.g., the sporadic attempts to eliminate the rankings ordiversify the fields to which the term ‘‘career’’ may apply), it became progressivelyfaint, fading out over time. Similarly, the rival project initiated by TMWomen as analternative with an expressly socialist message retreated from this stance just one yearafter its inception.

The Lady Globes project seeks to empower the individual woman by presentingindividual success stories; it does not echo the call of liberal feminism for a collectivefight for a change in social policy. In this sense, the Israeli magazine resembles mostAmerican and British women’s magazines by focusing on what is referred to above asthe ‘‘can-do’’ philosophy. As a business journal aimed at career women, Lady Globescalls for personal transformation based on improving one’s career, promising thatthis can be achieved through self-discipline and a strong work ethic. These findingsare relevant to the debate on women’s magazines and feminism. This results confirmthat the discourse in a magazine such as Lady Globes can be empowering for anindividual woman, encouraging her to improve her career and ensuring her that shecan advance on the basis of merit, a position which is consistent with the dominantneoliberal view. However, the magazine does not advocate broad social change.Keller (1994) similarly found that the thrust of American women’s magazines fromthe 1980s was to encourage women to look for ways to change themselves. Veryfew articles urged them to demand working conditions that better accommodatedfamilial responsibilities, better day-care options, or an equitable distribution ofdomestic responsibilities.

Founded in the late 1980s, Lady Globes evidences a discourse that reflects thechanges that have taken place since that period in Israeli cultural norms regardingcareer women, as described in the review of the literature. Indeed, the results ofthe analysis reveal that over the years, the Lady Globes project has come to include



more and more career women, more and more women holding prestigious positions,and more and more women in business and finance. This changing representationconfirms the claim of Israeli sociologists that the concept of a career for women hasbecome a more accepted and legitimate goal (Fogiel-Bijaoui, 2005; Izraeli, 2006),although as the results of this study demonstrate, its representation remains fractured.

The dominance of the business and financial sector in the project discoursereflects the neoliberal perception of the division of roles between government and themarketplace, which advocates limited government intervention and the expandedinfluence of private capital (Shalev, 2006). I would therefore argue that by adher-ing to these principles, the magazine contributes to the discursive legitimation ofneoliberalism. Moreover, by highlighting the presence of women in business andfinance, despite their scarcity in executive positions in these sectors (Haymine Reish& Sheferman, 2008), Lady Globes does not give proper weight to the prominenceof Israeli women in civil society organizations (Herzog, 2006) and the legal sys-tem (Bachar, 1999), where they have had a relatively strong presence in recentyears.

In addition, the discourse of career feminism in Lady Globes echoes developmentsin the Israeli feminist movement. The radical feminism that emerged in the countryin the 1970s gave way to liberal feminism and the peace movement in the 1980s.This decade saw the increased involvement of immigrants from English-speakingcountries who were less radical and more liberal, and who recorded their greatestsuccesses in the spheres of employment and legislation (Kamir, 2006; Safran,2006). One example is the founding of the Israel Women’s Network (IWN) in1984, an independent extraparliamentary body which became the leading feministorganization in the country at the time. Its stated goal was to advance the statusof women through legislation, lobbying of Knesset members, and educationand research aimed at raising public consciousness. Most of its founders weremiddle-class, Ashkenazi academics (Herzog, 2008).

Ferree and Hess (2000) maintain that the different varieties of feminism reflectdifferent styles and strategies, and that a feminist may move from one to the other inresponse to the changing circumstances in her life. In a similar fashion, although theLady Globes ‘‘Woman of the Year’’/‘‘Influential Women’’ project primarily articulatesa mainstream feminist voice, other voices can also be heard. The findings of thisstudy confirm the claim in the theoretical literature that women’s magazines are a sitefor contradictory definitions of femininity (Gill, 2007; Winship, 1987). The amalgamof different varieties of feminism—individualist and collectivist, conformist, andcritical—that emerges from the analysis of the Lady Globes project is an indication ofthe flexibility of women’s magazines and their ability to adapt themselves to currentfeminine dilemmas.

Notes

1 The second one is The Marker Women, which will be discussed later.



2 The magazine appeared every 2 months until 2006, and since then has been issuedmonthly.

3 The British economist John Maynard Keynes advocated active policy responses(especially regarding monetary and fiscal issues) to assure economic growth (Dornbuschet al., 2010).

4 A recent book claims that Israel was never a socialist state, but has always been anational state, which allowed capitalism to grow into hegemony (Ben-Porat, 2011).

5 In the summer of 2011, as part of the global trend, Israel experienced a grassroots socialprotest known as the ‘‘tent protest,’’ which propounded a social-democratic orientation.Although the political and social effects of this movement are not yet clear, it has alreadysucceeded in putting pressure on the Israeli government.

6 However, while global capitalism benefits women by presenting them with newemployment and educational opportunities, it also pushes other groups onto themargins of the labor market, causing them to suffer from poverty and unemployment(Fogiel-Bijaoui, 2005).

7 For the history of women’s periodicals from 18th to the 20th century, see Lont (1995,pp. 69–77) and Steiner (1995, pp. 99–103).

8 The first, Olam Haisha (Woman’s World) was inaugurated in 1940 and ceasedpublication in 1948. La’isha (For Women) was launched in 1947, and soon gained thelargest circulation of any periodical in the country, a status it retains to this day. At(You) began publication in 1967. Other women’s magazines currently published inIsrael include Olam Haisha (resurrected in 1984) and the international periodicalCosmopolitan.

9 The year 2005 was an exception to this rule, but no mention of this fact is made in thediscourse relating to the project.

10 A daily financial insert in the newspaper Haaretz, it is also sold separately.

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