Ruth Halperin-Kaddari

Ruth Halperin-Kaddari (born 15 May 1966; Hebrew: רות הלפרין-קדרי‎) is an Israeli legal scholar and international women's rights advocate who is known for her work on family law, feminist legal theory, women's rights in international law, and women and religion. She was a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women from 2006 to 2018, and was the committee's vice chair during several terms.[1] She is Professor of Law at the Bar-Ilan University and is the founding Director of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women. She is also involved in international academic collaborations on the theme of women, state, and religion, and participates in international litigations as an expert on Israeli family law.[2]

Professor

Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
רות הלפרין-קדרי
Member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
In office
2006–2018
Personal details
Born (1966-05-15) 15 May 1966
NationalityIsrael
Alma materYale Law School
OccupationLaw professor
AwardsInternational Women of Courage Award

She was one of the first recipients of the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award for her work on international women's rights in 2007. She was ranked as one of the world's hundred most influential people in gender equality policy in 2018.[3]

Career
Director Andrea Bottner (left) of the U.S. State Department presenting the Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award to Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari (right)

Halperin-Kaddari is a daughter of Menachem Zvi Kaddari, a noted linguist and expert on ancient Semitic languages who was rector of the Bar-Ilan University.

She studied law at the Bar-Ilan University, where she earned her LL.B. in 1989. She subsequently earned an LL.M. in 1990 and a Doctor of Juridical Science in 1993, both at Yale Law School in the United States. She is Professor of Law at the Bar-Ilan University; in 2001 she founded the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women, a social-legal centre that works to advance gender justice, and she has served as the centre's director since its establishment.[4][5][6]

United Nations roles

She was elected by the state parties to a four-year term on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2006 and was vice chairperson of the committee from 2009 to 2010. At the time of her election she was the committee's youngest member. She was reelected to her second term on the committee in 2010 and to her third term in 2014. She was again elected vice chairperson of the committee in 2017.[7][8] On the committee she served for over a decade alongside the former French Minister of Gender Equality Nicole Ameline and the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and UN Under-Secretary-General Pramila Patten.

In 2018 she co-authored a UN report which concluded that the lack of provision for abortion in Northern Ireland is a form of violence against women.[9]

The Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women

In 2001 she founded the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women, a social-legal centre that works to advance gender justice, and she has served as the centre's director since its establishment. Established at Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Law with the goal of improving women’s status and bringing an end to gender discrimination and inequality in Israeli society, The Rackman Center is now proud to be the forefront organization of legal and social change for women in family law in Israel, working to fulfill the vision of advancing women’s rights, and bettering women’s standing within family law in general and Jewish family law in particular.[10]

Honours

She is a recipient of numerous research grants and prizes, including two major grants from the Israel Science Foundation (2000, 2005); the Zeltner Award for Young Legal Scholars (2000); She received the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award in 2007 for her work on international women's rights.;[11] the Katan Award for the Advancement of Gender Justice through Voluntary Work, awarded by the Ruach Nashit NGO in Israel (2014); in March 2016 she was awarded with 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. In 2018 she named on Apolitical’s 100 most influential people in gender policy around the world.[3][2]

Selected works
  • Women in Israel: A State of Their Own, Pennsylvania University Press, 2004

References
  1. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
  2. The Rackman Center
  3. Gender Equality Top 100: The Most Influential People In Global Policy
  4. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
  5. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Bar-Ilan University
  6. Home Truths: A Religious Feminist Trailblazer Tells It Like It Is, Haaretz
  7. Human Rights in Practice Series for International Women’s Day: Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
  8. Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Elected for Third Time to Prestigious UN Committee, BIU, 2014-07-02
  9. Northern Ireland abortion laws violate women's rights, UN body says, Reuters
  10. The Rackman Center
  11. International Women's Issues Archives, United States Department of State
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