The fight for women’s suffrage in Palestine was a fierce one, pitting determined women activists with international support against the obstinance of ultra-Orthodox groups from the Old Yishuv. In 1920, fourteen women were elected to the National Assembly, and after years of thwarted efforts to revoke women’s suffrage, the 1926 Assembly decreed full equal rights for women in all areas of civil, economic, and political life.

The desire of woman immigrants of the Second Aliyah for self-actualization and economic independence played an important part in shaping new Hebrew society in pre-state Israel. Civil sector women saw every Yishuv occupation, including traditionally feminine ones, as work of national importance and in service of the broader Zionist project.