“Exclusion, inferiority and lack of belonging”: the women’s lobby against the Galilee Medical Center

Last week in Mako Health we published an internal letter distributed by the Ministry of Health to hospital managers and health insurance funds, following the storm surrounding the Galilee Medical Center, after pictures of women were removed from the hospital’s billboards in Safed – some of them were defaced. Later, an apology sign was hung in the city which read: “To the public of the city of Safed, we wanted to apologize. We took down the photos. The birth experience remains.”

Now it turns out that behind the scenes a sharp dispute continued to take place surrounding the event, which also reached the door of senior officials in the Ministry of Health. From documents obtained by the section it appears that the women’s lobby in Israel sent a scathing letter, written to the management of the Galilee Medical Center, through attorney Adia Sheinwald from the office of Kalai, Rosen & Co., accusing the hospital. Among other things, it is claimed that “this is an event that expresses submission to violent and illegal pressures, legitimizing the erasure of women from the public sphere, and conveying a dangerous message that vandalism, threats and vandalism are effective means of imposing discriminatory norms on public institutions in the State of Israel.” The lobby also claimed that the publication of the apology after the vandalism of the signs is a “message that folds in the face of violence” and even gives it “public legitimacy”.

The lobby added that this is serious conduct by a public body, and that erasing women from public publications conveys a message of “exclusion, inferiority and lack of belonging” to women and girls. It is also claimed that the event may encourage extremist elements to continue to act against the representation of women in the public sphere, with the understanding that public institutions will succumb to this type of pressure. In the letter, the lobby demanded that the Ministry of Health establish binding procedures to prevent the exclusion of women in the health system, and even examine enforcement measures against public bodies that submit to similar demands in the future.

Attorney Gali Singer, assistant to the executive director of the women’s lobby, added that public anger is being replaced by deep sadness. “We are witnessing an ever-expanding phenomenon of the exclusion of women from the public sphere, and even public institutions that are supposed to serve the entire population are succumbing to pressures instead of standing up for the values ​​of equality.”

She added that women who come to the delivery room and women professionals in the field should receive from the medical system an attitude of respect, appreciation and security, certainly not to experience humiliation after they were excluded from the publication of the maternity department. “The Ministry of Health must prevent the recurrence of cases of exclusion in the public health system – through supervision, binding instructions and actual enforcement, including punishment if necessary.”

“No basis for the claim was found”

In a reply letter sent to the women’s lobby, the Galilee Medical Center rejected the claims completely. The hospital wrote that “after an in-depth examination of the events, it was found that there is no factual or legal basis for the claim that the medical center acted to exclude women, to erase women from the public sphere or to succumb to discriminatory concepts.” It was also written that the claim according to which the hospital acted to exclude women “is not true”, and that the medical center did not initially seek to avoid presenting women in its publications.

The hospital claimed that the incident began following the repeated vandalism of advertising signs by unknown parties, and that the medical center “did not initiate these acts, did not agree to them, did not encourage them and did not accept them at any stage.” It was also emphasized that the hospital considers the vandalism as an illegitimate violation of the values ​​of law and public order, and rejects the claim that it legitimized them. In addition, it was noted that women hold a long line of senior management positions at the medical center, including the deputy director of the medical center, department managers and department managers, and senior doctors. It was also reported that “the center is committed to the principles of equality and adequate representation.”

The medical center added that the interpretation presented by the women’s lobby is one interpretation of the events, but according to him it does not reflect the factual reality and is not consistent with its many years of activity to promote equality in the health care system.