An Israeli ultra-Orthodox radio station has been ordered to pay 1 million shekels ($280,000) in damages for refusing to put women on the air.
The Jerusalem District Court ruled Thursday that the Kol Barama radio station was liable for damages as part of a class-action lawsuit that was filed by Kolech, an Orthodox feminist advocacy group, on the grounds that between 2009 and 2011, the station refused to include women in its broadcasts altogether.
Strict ultra-Orthodox circles object to women singing – or even speaking – in public. Kol Barama alleged it had the right to enforce this decree, and while it lifted its ban on putting women on the air in 2014, the station still refused to air the works of female singers.
The plaintiffs argued that the move constituted grave discrimination against women.
The suit, filed in 2012, was the first class-action lawsuit to challenge civil rights in Israel.
While the court ruled in 2014 that Kol Barama was guilty of discrimination, the station appealed the ruling before Israel's Supreme Court. The appeal was rejected in 2015, and several hearings have since been held to determine the amount of restitution the station would have to pay.
Judge Gila Kanfi-Steinitz noted in her ruling that the damages aimed to consider the station's "complete exclusion of women, while ensuring this fine will not undermine the financial stability of the defendant, which provides an important service to its sector."
The station's conduct contributed to the "deepening perception of female inferiority" within haredi circles, "fueling feelings of frustration, humiliation, and diminished self-worth among women, who were prevented from influencing the public agenda in their own sector."
Setting a NIS 1 million figure "means to deter the defendant from similar discriminatory behavior in the future," the judge ruled.
Kolech Attorney Orly Erez-Likhovsky, who represented the plaintiffs, called the ruling "an important milestone in the struggle against discrimination in general and the exclusion of women in particular."
"This ruling underscores the severity of this type of exclusion and the price excluding parties must pay for it. Kolech will continue to work toward achieving a just and equal society, and fight against social discrimination."
Kolech Director Attorney Yael Rockman welcomed the ruling, saying that the court had "set a precedent in its ruling against Kol Barama and in favor of women's right to be heard in the public sphere."
The group said the funds will go toward programs that help empower religious women.
