The talk examines the integration of Haredi women into the Israeli labor market, highlighting how this process is shaped by a complex interplay between religious leadership, state policies, and market forces. Traditionally, Haredi society expects women to support Torah-centered households while maintaining strict religious modesty and gender separation. To facilitate this, the Israeli state—motivated by neoliberal goals to reduce welfare dependency—developed policies subsidizing gender-segregated workplaces. Employers, in turn, viewed Haredi women as a source of affordable, reliable labor, often justifying their inclusion through the language of diversity and accommodation. Religious leaders initially supported these arrangements to preserve male Torah study, but also leveraged them to maintain social control, with rabbis effectively acting as labor intermediaries and supervisors.
Over time, however, this seemingly static structure has begun to shift. As Haredi women gain professional experience and economic independence—particularly in the high-tech sector—they are renegotiating their roles both within their families and communities. Older women, no longer constrained by marriage prospects or community expectations, have begun working in mixed-gender environments and demanding fairer wages and working conditions. This has led to subtle transformations in gender norms, with some women using religious texts to assert authority and challenge traditional patriarchy. Frenkel argues that what appears as religious accommodation is in fact a dynamic negotiation, where Haredi women are not merely passive recipients of religious and state dictates but active participants reshaping the boundaries of religious femininity and labor participation.