Ikea Aims To Reach Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox With A Female-Free Catalog
By Sam Kestenbaum February 17, 2017
Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has come under fire in Israel after publishing a catalog without women.
Hoping to appeal to the country’s ultra-Orthodox Jews, the catalog released this month shows men and boys in domestic settings — clad in yarmulke and with side curls. They sit at a Sabbath table, in a study and a living room, artfully arrange tableaux plucked straight from everyday life.
But there’s no woman or girl in sight.
An odd look to some, but in ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, circles, it’s common to erase women. Photos of women and girls rarely appear in print. Hillary Clinton, for example, is regularly photoshopped out of Orthodox newspapers.
The catalog sparked anger online.
“Where did the mother go in this picture?” one online commenter asked, according to Times of Israel.
“From the age of three, girls are not allowed in pictures,” another comment read.
Ikea’s retail manager for Israel, Shuky Koblenz, said he regretted the move.
“We realize that people are upset about this and that the publication does not live up to what Ikea stands for and we apologize for this,” Koblenz said in a statement sent to Religion News Service. “We will make sure that future publications will reflect what Ikea stands for and at the same time show respect for Haredi community.”
Haredim make up about 10% of Israel’s total population of about 8.5 million. They buy a lot of furniture as they tend to have large families.
Koblenz said the brochure had been “customized specifically for the Haredi community in an attempt to reach this minority community in Israel with commercial messages.”
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
