“Choice” – the center of rights and activities on the ground for Arab and Jewish women
In 2015, a center was established at the Association’s Haifa branch under the name Bichara – Choice. The purpose of the Center is to develop and strengthen activism among groups of Arab and Jewish women in the North, to raise awareness of socio-economic rights, to protect women from violence, and to improve enforcement of their rights.
The Center, staffed by lawyers and psychologists, runs a number of projects designed to achieve these goals. The Activism Center is based on extensive cooperation between civil society organizations in the North and various municipal authorities
The Center operates a hotline, and provides legal assistance and representation for those in low-paid employment areas.
Center projects
Safety at Work for Women
The project deals with health and safety hazards that cleaning women and caregivers for the elderly are exposed to in their work, specifically the use of hazardous substances. This project involves a number of stages: mapping of needs, reviewing the existing situation and building a database, forming groups to empower women and train them for on-the-ground activities, and raising awareness among cleaning women and caregivers for the elderly.
We conduct lectures and seminars on this issue:
Guide on safety working conditions
Contact us for a lecture
Sexual Violence in the Health System
This project arose as a result of women’s experiences in the institutional health system in Israel and of participants in the Legal Feminism Clinic run by Itach Ma-aki. We learnt that this is an important and relevant topic to women of different backgrounds. We recognize the inherent difficulty in the therapist-patient relationship, which expresses the complex balance of power that has existed for years. Through the Legal Feminism Clinic, we published a groundbreaking position paper on this subject.
Link to the Position Paper on Sexual Violence in the Health System
The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of this matter among patients and within the health system in general, as well as to promote a change in policy regarding the creation of a response-system within the health system. The response-system will address complaints and provide treatment for women who have been sexually harmed and abused by caregivers (medical and paramedical).
The project includes the establishment of a group of activists on the subject (women affected) and policy change.
In recent months, we have developing a group of women active in this field with the aim of raising awareness among women and the health system members (especially those employed by it) about this issue with the intention of erasing this phenomenon from society.
Want to join the group? Contact us at mail@itach.org.il
“Choice” Center staff
Attorney Hanan Margia
Nour Falah
Attorney Maha Shehadeh
Attorney Reut Cohen
