Beit Shemesh-Adulam Women meet their Washington Partners (photo by Miriam Sushman)

There is a wide social divide in the town and region of Beit Shemesh- Adulam. On one side are the long-time residents, most of whom came from North Africa in the 1960s; on the other are the newcomers from English-speaking countries, attracted to Beit Shemesh as a Jerusalem bedroom community. One of the very few places where old and new meet is the Women's Leadership Program, where Beit Shemesh women have found that gender issues easily bridge the social and cultural divide.

Encouraged by their partner community of Washington, D.C., through the Partnership 2000 program, the program consists of a series of 10 sessions, led by facilitators and addressed by different speakers, where women's health and small businesses with women proprietors are examined and discussed. Now in its third year, the two track program for women with academic and non-academic backgrounds has been expanded this year to include a third for graduates of earlier courses of the program.

As well as examining issues relevant to women, the program has given Bet Shemesh women from both sides of the divide a new confidence to work from within the system. Program graduates, mostly in their 30s and 40s, are active now in forming a Beit Shemesh Women's Council, in reaching out to other women in the community, and in strengthening and furthering their links with women's groups in Washington, D.C.

June 1999