Marcia Freedman

Biography

Born in Newark in the United States, Freedman was active in the American Civil Rights Movement between 1960 and 1967. In 1967 she immigrated to Israel, and soon became involved in activism and politics. She became famous from her desire to improve abortion laws and raise awareness to the civil rights movement. She helped found the Israeli feminist movement in 1971.

In 1973, the feminist movement decided to support Shulamit Aloni's Ratz (the Civil Rights Movement), and Freedman was given third place on the Ratz slate. She caught Shulamit Aloni's attention based on her passion, commitment, and enthusiasm for the movement. Aloni asked Freedman to be the third seat on the party. The party won three seats, and Freedman was elected to the Knesset. Ratz soon merged into Ya'ad – Civil Rights Movement, but Freedman and Aryeh Eliav broke away to form the Social-Democratic Faction (later renamed the Independent Socialist Faction). Freedman served in the Knesset from 1974 to 1977. She became a large advocate for Gay Rights movements because she came out as a lesbian to her daughter and her daughter started to isolate from her.

Prior to the 1977 elections Freedman formed the Women's Party, though she did not stand as its candidate. The party failed to cross the 1% electoral threshold though it did succeed in attracting public support for women's issues. While a member of the Knesset, Freedman was outspoken on women's issues and brought to public attention issues that had never been discussed publicly in Israel, including domestic violence, breast cancer, rape, incest, and teenage prostitution. In addition, Freedman became increasingly involved with the discussion on peace with the Palestinians. However, in her interview in 2015 with the American Jewish Peace Archive, she states that she “was drawn into what I would call foreign policy issues because I was a member of Knesset, and that was totally accidental and unplanned” (about her involvement with the Palestinian conflict.) Freedman was an early supporter of the creation of a Palestinian independent state. She was involved in communications with the Palestinian Liberation Organization and supported what is now known as the two-state solution.

Freedman helped create an advocacy and support network for women in Israel. She was a co-founder, together with Barbara Swersky and others of Israel's first shelter for battered women, established in 1977 in Haifa. Freedman left Israel and returned to the United States in 1981. She again lived in Israel from 1997 to 2002, and founded the Community of Learning Women, which provided education in women's studies and computer literacy. Freedman still regularly visits Israel, and a ceremony in her honor was held in Haifa in 2007.

Freedman wrote an article titled "Feminist Publishing in Israel" for the Women's Studies Newsletter in 1980. She spoke about different bookstores involving feminist books in Hebrew and the six publishers that allows feminist works to be published. She also spoke about how few books on feminism were originally written in Hebrew and the minimal efforts there were to publish feminist writings.

Freedman has written a memoir, Exile in the Promised Land. Her memoir was dedicated to her father named Phillip Prince. She states on the dedication page, "who's example I have largely followed." She is also the author of many articles and reviews.

Brit Tzedek v’Shalom is a pro-Israel and pro-peace organization. She was elected on the board of the organization in 2002 and later became president. In 2010, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom merged into J Street. As of April 2007, Freedman stopped advocating for J Street due to feeling that the two-state option not being possible.