עברית

Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari

Telephone
03-5317099
Email
ruth.kaddari@biu.ac.il
Office
Building 306, Room 309
Reception Hours
Meetings should be coordinated in advance
Short Biography

Prof. Halperin-Kaddari is an expert on family law and international women's rights and is the Founding Director of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University Law Faculty in Israel, where she serves as a full Professor. In December 2018 she completed three terms (twelve years) on the UN Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), during which she also served twice as the Vice-Chair of the Committee, and as the first Chair of the Working Group on Inquiries. A graduate of Yale Law School (LL.M.; J.S.D.), and in December 2024 she was selected as a recipient of an honorary degree from Brandeis University. She has published extensively in her areas of expertise, including a book on Women in Israel that was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. 

She is a renowned speaker in academic as well as professional forums and has served on several occasions as an expert witness on Israeli family law in international tribunals. She has also served for five years in a national role as the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Authority for the Advancement of Women at the Prime Minister's Office. 

She is the recipient of numerous important research grants, including the GenderNet Horizon202 from the EU, and three times from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF).

She is a recipient of international awards including the US States Department Women of Courage Award and the Human Rights Award 2024 of the Ingrid zu Solms-Stiftung Foundation in Germany, and in 2018 she was named one of Apolitical 100 most influential people in gender policy around the world. In June 2023 she was shortlisted for the OHCHR Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls.

In July 2007 she was awarded the International Award for Woman of Courage by the State Department of the United States. In November 2014, she was the recipient of "Ot Katan" Award for the Advancement of Gender Justice through Voluntary Work, awarded by the Ruach Nashit NGO in Israel; in March 2016 she was awarded the Rappaport Prize for Women Generating Change in Israeli Society; and in January 2017 she received the Knights of Quality Government Award by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel.

During her term on CEDAW, she led the successful adoption (in 2013) of a new General Recommendation on the Economic Consequences of Family Relations and their Dissolution; and conducted (in 2018) the Inquiry into North Ireland's restrictive abortion regime, the Report of which was adopted in UK's legislation in July 2019, directing the decriminalization of abortions in Northern-Ireland.

For pdf file 

Research

Family Law; Feminist Jurisprudence; Bioethics

Media

ORGANIZATION OF ACADEMIC CONFERENCES (PARTIAL LIST):

  1. A Rackman Center’s Conference Women as partners in the halachic process (Bar-Ilan, January 2023)  
  2. The administration of the courts in Israel, judges training on gender issues, together with Judge Michal Gonen-Agmon (Jerusalem, November 2022)  
  3. Association for Israel Studies (Virtual Conference, June 2021) 
  4. Guardian Ad-Litem in Israeli Family Law (Bar-Ilan, April 2021) 
  5. International Conference on Feminism in the Three Abrahamic Faiths (Bar-Ilan University, December 2020) 
  6. Family Litigation in Corona Times (Virtual Conference, May 2020) 
  7. International Society of Family Law, North America Regional Conference (University of Illinois, Chicago, June 2019) 
  8. Marriages outside the Rabbinate in Israel (Bar-Ilan, June 2018) 
  9. Roundtable on Prenuptial Agreements (Bar-Ilan, June 2017) 
  10. Gender Separation in the Military Service (Bar-Ilan, March 2017) 
  11. Sisterhood and Literature: On Elena Ferrante's Napolytan Novels (Bar-Ilan, March 2017)  
  12. The Istanbul Convention on VAW (Government and Civil Society Conference; Bar-Ilan, November 2016) 
  13. Research Group on Annulment of Marriage in 20th Century Responsa (Bar-Ilan, March-June 2016)  
  14. The Rackman Center’s Annual Conferences on Women, Family and the Law (Bar-Ilan, sole organizer every January since 2003) 
  15. Gett: The Trial of Us All (Bar-Ilan, November 2014) 
  16. Collaborative Divorce (Bar-Ilan, December 2013) 
  17. Acquisition in Marriage – Alternatives to Halachic Marriages (Bar-Ilan, May 2013) 
  18. Women, Rights and Law in Pre-State Israel (Bar-Ilan, March 2011) 
  19. International Society of Family Law Regional Conference in Israel (Bar-Ilan University and Sha'arei Mishpat Law College, June 2009) 
  20. "Gender, Religion and Society", Int'l conference, the Gender Interdisciplinary program (Bar-Ilan, May 2006) 
  21. Solutions to Get Refusals in Civil Laws (Bar-Ilan, Spetember 2005) 
  22. "Creating in God's Image: Ethical Challenges in Stem Cell Research and In-Vitro Fertilization", Int;l conference in cooperation with Columbia University (Bar-Ilan, Spetember 2005) 
  23. The Israel Bar Association Annual Conference (Eilat, May 2005, 2006) 
  24. Woman and her Judaism (Jerusalem,June 2005) 
  25. Second Annual Conference on Women, Family and Law (Bar-Ilan,January 2005) 
  26. First Annual Conference on Women, Family and Law (Bar-Ilan,January 2004) 
  27. Feminist Legal Education (Bar-Ilan,January 2003) 
  28. Woman and her Judaism (Jerusalem,July 1999) 
  29. Marriage, Liberty and Equality: Shall the Three Walk Together? (Bar-Ilan, June 1999) 
  30. Family Courts’ Handling of Family Violence (Bar-Ilan, March 1999) 
  31. New Reproductive Technologies (Bar-Ilan, February 1998) 
  32. Founding Conference of the Israeli Association for Feminist Studies (Bar-Ilan, January 1998) 
  33. Family Court in Israel (Bar-Ilan,January 1998) 
  34. Organ Transplantation in Israel (Bar-Ilan, November 1997) 

 

Publications

Publications

BOOKS

 Women in Israel: A State of Their Own, University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

BOOKS EDITED       

  1. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: A Commentary (Second Edition). Edited by Patricia Schulz, Ruth Halperin Kaddari, Beate Rudolf, Marsha A. Freeman, Oxford University Press (December 2022) 
  2. Democratic Culture, guest editor together with Prof. Tovah Cohen, special volume in memoriam of the late Prof. Dafna Izraeli (2006) (Hebrew) 
  3. One Constitution and One Law to the Man and to the Woman: Women, Rights and the Law during the Mandate Period (Margalit Shiloh, Eyal katvan, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Eds., Bar-Ilan Press 2011) (Hebrew) 

 CHAPTERS IN BOOKS 

  1. Article 16: Equality in Family Relations, forthcoming in The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: A Commentary (Second Edition). Edited by Patricia Schulz, Ruth Halperin Kaddari, Beate Rudolf, Marsha A. Freeman, Oxford University Press (December 2022) 
  2. The Halachic Trap: Marriage and Family Life, in Israeli Feminist Scholarship (Esther Fuchs Ed., University of Texas Press, 2014) 
  3. The Doomsday Weapon, a Commentary in Jewish Political Tradition: Community (Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberboim, Noam Zohar &  Eds., Yale University Press 2011) 

 ARTICLES 

  1. Between Social and Legal Legitimations: Weddings outside the Rabbinate in Israel, 14 Religions 240 (2023) (Together with Ofira Fuchs and Elisheva Rossman-Stollman) 
  1. “A Marriage for all Purposes”: Social Legitimation to Marriages Outside the Rabbinate in Israel, forthcoming in Politika 116-165 (Israel’s Political Science Review, 2022) (Together with Ofira Fox and Elisheva Rossman-Stollman) (Hebrew) 
  1. Crimmigration and Gender-Based Violence Against Female Asylum Seekers in Israel, in Gender-Based Violence in Migration: Interdisciplinary, Feminist and Intersectional Approaches (Jane Freedman, Sahraoui Nina & Evangelia Tastoglou Eds.) (Palgrave 2022) (together with Nomi Levenkron and Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg). 
  1. Distorted Digital Databases and the Construction of Legal Knowledge: The Case of Family Law in Israel, forthcoming in University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, volume 43 (2022) (together with Eyal Katvan and Bryna Bogoch) 
  1. Human Rights Treaty Bodies as Standard-Setting Mechanisms: the Case of Family Law in CEDAW, in Strengthening Human Rights Protections in Geneva, Israel, the West Bank and Beyond: Against the Wind 82-102 (Joseph David, Yaël Ronen, Yuval Shany and Joseph Weiler (eds), (Cambridge University Press, 2021) 
  1. Parenting Apart in International Human Rights Family Law: A View from CEDAW,  22 Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies 130-146 (2020) 
  1. The Developing concept of Reputed Divorce, or Divorced Without Divorce, in Israel, 42 Iunei Mishpat (Tel-Aviv studies in law) 597-638 (2020) (together with Benny Shmueli) (Hebrew) 
  1. Women's entry and integration into Israel's legal Academia – History, Story, Non-Story and the MEN(tor), in Gender and Careers in the Legal Academy 215-231 (Ulrike Schultz, Gisela Shaw, Margaret Thornton, Rosemary Auchmuty, eds.) (Hart Publishing, 2021) (together with Eyal Katvan) 
  1. First Among Equals: Chief Justice Dorit Beinish as Israel's First Female Chief Justice, in Essays in Honor of Chief-Justice Dorit Beinisch (Festschrift) (Keren Azulay, Aharon Barak, Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov & Shahar Lifshitz, eds., 2018) 47-109 (together with Revital Barsheshet) (Hebrew) 
  1. The Chaos in Child Support Judgements, 19 Mishpat Ve-Asakim (Law&Business) 1235-1269 (2016) (IDC Law Review) (together with Keren Horovitz and Shay Zilberberg) (Hebrew) 
  1. International Human Rights and Israel as Seen in the Work of the Treaty Bodies: Do They Walk the Talk? 49(2) Israel Law Review 267-276 (2016) (together with Amichai Danino) 
  1. Backlash Goes Global: Men’s Groups, Patriarchal Family Policy, and the False Promise of Gender-Neutral Laws, 28 Canadian J. of Women 165-193 (2016) (together with Marsha Freeman) 
  1. Forward: Has the Time come for Civil Marriage in Israel? Introduction for Civil Marriage Debate, 6 Zehuyot 101 (Van-Leer Institute Journal for Jewish Culture and Identity) (2015) (Hebrew) 
  1. How to Decide in Custody Disputes? The Dangers of Parental Equality Illusion within a Gendered Reality, (together with Dafna Hacker) 15 Mishpat u’Mimshal 91 (Haifa Studies in Law and Governance) (2013) (Hebrew)  
  1. Economic Consequences of Divorce: Applying a Universal Equality Norm in a Fragmented Universe (together with Marsha Freeman), 13 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 323-360 (2012) 
  1. “The Hidden Text of Law”: The Digital Databases’ Effect on the Creation of Knowledge base in Israeli Family Law (together with Bryna Bogoch and Eyal Katvan), 34  Iunei Mishpat 603-640 (Tel-Aviv Studies in law) 2011 (Hebrew) 
  1. Between Universal Feminism and Particular Nationalism: politics, religion and gender (in)equality in Israel, (together with Yaacov Yadgar) 31 Third World Quarterly 905-920 (2010) ) [translated into French and published under Nationalisme, religion et (in)égalité de sexe en Israël au prisme du droit de la famille, Cahiers du Genre, hors-série 2012, 119-138] 
  1. Introduction: Complex Identities, Divided Identities, (together with Margalit Shiloh, Eyal katvan), in One Constitution and One Law to the Man and to the Woman: Women, Rights and the Law during the Mandate Period (Margalit Shiloh, Eyal Katvan, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Eds., Bar-Ilan Press 2010) 
  1. "When the Woman becomes a Lawyer": Rosa Ginzberg-Ginossar and The battle over Women's Right to Serve as Lawyers During the British mandate over Israel, (together with Eyal Katvan),  in One Constitution and One Law to the Man and to the Woman: Women, Rights and the Law during the Mandate Period (Margalit Shiloh, Eyal katvan, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Eds., Bar-Ilan Press 2010) 
  1. "The Feminist Proposal is Really Ridiculous": The battle over Women's Right to Practice Law in Pre-State Palestine, (together with Eyal Katvan), 25 Mehkarei Mishpat 237-284 (Bar-Ilan Law Studies) (2009) (Hebrew) 
  1. Cooptation, Cooperation and Resistance: Mediation and Divorce Professionals in Israel, (together with Bryna Bogoch), 14 International Journal of the Legal Profession 115-145 (2007) 
  1. The Voice is the Voice of Mediation, but the Hands are the Hands of the Law: Mediation and Divorce in Israel, (together with Bryna Bogoch), 49 Hapraklit 293-332 (2007) (Hebrew) 
  1. Moral Considerations in Family Law and a Feminist Reading of Family Cases in Israel, in Readings in Feminism, Gender and Law (Barak-Erez et. Al. Eds, Nevo Publication 2007) 651-698 (Hebrew) 
  1. Rosa Ginzberg-Ginossar, (together with Eyal Katvan) entry in Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, Moshe Shalvi ed., Shalvi Publishing Ltd., in press. 
  1. "Divorce Israeli Style: Professional Perceptions of Gender and Power in Mediated and Lawyer- Negotiated Divorces", (together with Bryna Bogoch), 28 Law and Policy 137-163 (2006). 
  1. Feminist Legal Theory, Social Change, and the Advancement of Women in Israel, 10 Tarbut Demokratit (Democratic Culture) 163-190 (2006) (Hebrew) 
  1. Wife Support: From Perception of Difference to Perception of [In]Equality, 7 Mishpat u'Mimshal (Haifa Studies in Law and Governance) 767-811 (2003), (Hebrew). 
  1. Expressions of Legal Pluralism in Israel, in Jewish Family Law in the State of Israel, Michael D.A. Freeman ed., Global Publications State University of New York: Binghamton, 185-244 (2002). 
  1. Gender and Divorce Mediation in Israel, (together with Bryna Bogoch and Yael Ronen), 7 Hamishpat 335-372 (2002) (Hebrew). 
  1. “And Thou Shall Teach Them to your Sons, Not to your Daughters” – Inclusion and Exclusion of Women in Halakhic Language, 18 Mehkarei Mishpat (Bar-Ilan Law Studies) 353-372 (2002) (Hebrew). 
  1. Women, Religion and Multiculturalism in Israel, 5 UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 339-366 (2000) [also published in Hebrew translation and in English in Zivion: Jolson Center for Israel, Judaism and Democracy, position paper no. 4] 
  1. Towards Concluding Civil Family Law – Israel Style, 17 Mehkarei Mishpat (Bar-Ilan Law Studies) 105-157 (2001) (Hebrew). 
  1. “Tav Lemeitav Tan Du Milmeitav Armalu”: An Analysis of the Presumption, 4:1 Edah Journal Iyar 2004 (http://www.edah.org) 
  1. More on Legal Pluralism in Israel (Following Rozen-Zvi ‘Subject, Community, and Legal Pluralism) 22 Tel-Aviv Univ. L. Rev. 559-577 (2000) (Hebrew). 
  1. To Leave Life Behind: Maternal-Fetal Relationship and Post-Mortem Cesareans, in Dilemmas in medical Ethics, Raffi Cohen-Almagor ed., Van-Lear Institute: Jerusalem 2002, 107-136 (Hebrew). 
  1. Redefining Parenthood, 29 California Western Int’l L. J. (Spring 1999), 313-337.  
  1. Two who are One, One who is Two: Maternal-Fetal Relationship and Substance Abuse during Pregnancy, 6 Plilim (Israel Journal of Criminal Justice) 261-338 (1997) (Special issue on Sex and Gender in Criminal Law) (Hebrew). 
  1. Rethinking Legal Pluralism in Israel: The Interaction between the High Court of Justice and Rabbinical Courts, 20(3) Tel Aviv University Law Review 683-747 (1997) (Hebrew). 
  1. Husband’s Adultery as a Ground for Divorce, 7 Mehkarei Mishpat (Bar- Ilan Law Studies) 297-329 (1989) (Hebrew). 

SELECTED OP-EDS AND OTHER SHORT ARTICLES 

  1. On the way to expanding the powers of the rabbinical courts, The  Marker, February 2023 
  1. The Override Clause will harm family law, Israel Hayom, December 2022 (with Zvi Triger). 
  1. Shutting the Door on the One who Needs a Roof on her Head,  Haaretz, June 2020 (with Cochav Elkayam) 
  1. What a “Feminist” Approach to Fighting COVID-19 Might Have Achieved, Just Security, May 28 2020 (with Ambassador Donald Steinberg) 
  1. Remembering Israel’s First Female Lawyer: 90 Years On, Haaretz, February 2020 
  1. One Hundred Years of Limiting Women’s Political Participation, YNET, December 2019 
  1. Legitimization for Denying Property Rights from Women, Haaretz, November 2019 
  1. Legitimizing Denial of Women's Property Rights, Haaretz, November 2018 
  1. The Revolution that didn't happen, Maariv, May 2015 
  1. Collaborative Divorce: Separate but Equal, The Lawyer (The Israeli Bar Association Journal), June 2014, 121-125 (http://www.dmag.co.il/pub/israelbar/lawyer24/index.html#120) 
  1. The Hidden Law, The Lawyer (The Israeli Bar Association Journal), April 2013, 112-115 (together with Adi Blutner) 
  1. Women in Israel: from Illusion of Equality to Exclusion, The JOFA Journal, Fall 2012 (3-5) 
  1. Not only for homosexuals, Haaretz, December 2012 
  1. All in the Rabbinate, Haaretz October 2011. 
  1. Farewell to Non-Adversary Separation, The Lawyer (The Israeli Bar Association Journal) July 2009, 96-98 
  1. The Get 'Gets' Fairer, The Jerusalem Post November 2008, 15. 
  1. The Race for the Get, Ynet November 2008. 
  1. Another Unfortunate Missed Opportunity, Haaretz April 2006. 
  1. An Unnecessary confrontation, NRG April 2006. 
  1. "Tav Lemeitav Tan Du Milemeitav Armula" – is that so?, Being A Jewish Woman (Vol.3, Tovah Cohen & Aliza Lavi ed.) (2005) 123-136.     
  1. An Unfortunate Missed Opportunity, Haaretz December 2004. 
  1. Thus Shall it be Done to the Man, Hazofe April 2003. 
  1. Gender Construction under Halakhic Marriage and Divorce Laws, 22 Talpiot (2000) 451-464. 
  1. First Expressions of Affirmative Action under Israeli Law, 13 Justice 37-39 (1997). 
  1. The Position of Women in Israel, 13 Justice 35-36 (1997). 
  1. Family Law and Jurisdiction in Israel and the Bavli Case; 2 Justice 37-40 (1994).

 

 

Work in progress

WORK IN PROGRESS 

  1. “The Rise of Parental Alienation Discourse in Israeli Law”, to be submitted to Hukim (Jerusalem University Law School Journal on Legislation) (together with Ruth Zafran and Sharon Shakargy) (Hebrew) 
  1. "The Emergence of International Human Rights Family Law", to be submitted to the European Journal of International Law 
  1. "Fake Academic News: the Case of False Allegations of False Complaints by Women", to be submitted to Mechkarei Mishpat (Hebrew) 
  1. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Israel’s (Possible) Accession to the Istanbul Convention, in European Council’s Convention on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence – the Istanbul Convention (Sara De Vido ed.) (Elgar, forthcoming 2023)  

Last Updated Date : 21/03/2024