Who are these Women, Anyway?

“Jewish women and girls” began the tiny ad at the bottom of the New York Times’ front page, looking at first like the Lubavitch sponsored ads which for years appeared every Friday in this same spot to remind females of Shabbat candle-lighting times. But the ad appearing on the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this year continued thus: “Hold your community accountable. Sexism Is a sin.”

The ad was signed “Jewish Women Watching,” the anonymous grassroots organization that monitors persistent male chauvinism In Jewish organizations. While JWW members and funders have up to now remained underground, you can reach them via e-mail (jewishwomenwatching@hotmailcom).

Other recent JWW tactics have Included sending out 1,500 Purim groggers to Jewish community leaders, to which stickers were affixed that read “Drown Out Sexism.” And they suggest that, when you see women grotesquely underrepresented on the podium at Jewish conferences, you ask the men on that dais “How do you feel about the exclusion of your female colleagues? And what Is your organization doing to rectify this situation?”