Erella Shadmi

Erella Shadmi is a feminist, peace and anti-racism activist and scholar living in Israel. She co-founded Kol Ha’Isha (Jerusalem feminist centre), the Fifth Mother (a women’s peace movement), and the Ashkenazi women’s group established to contemplate on Ashkenazi racism. She has been active, among other things, in Women in Black, and the Mizrahi feminist movement, Achoti. She was a board member of B’tselem and a member of the Truth Commission for the Nakba in the Negev 1948-1960, established by Zochrot organization. She is now active in the Haifa Feminist Center, Isha Le’Isha, and currently leads the initiatives to establish the Center for Women’s Cultures and co-housing for elderly women. She is also active in two global networks, dealing with gift economy, matriarchal societies and Indigenous rights and knowledge. Erella is the former head of the Women’s Studies Program at Beit Berl Academic College, a unique program that is open to less-educated women and focuses on marginalized groups in Israel. Her numerous published books and articles deal with social change movements, male violence against women, Ashkenaziness, lesbianism, spirituality, the maternal gift economy and matriarchal societies. As a criminologist and one of the pioneering researchers of the Israel Police, she published several critical articles and the first of its kind a book on police and policing in Israel.