Electing “Miss Sefaradí”: Sephardic Jewish Women, Zionism, and Ethnic and National Identities in Argentina, 1935–60

This paper seeks to analyze the role played by Zionism in the configuration of ethnic and national identities within the Sephardic community in Argentina. In particular, the presentation will discuss how Sephardic Women created and defended their newly created space within the male-dominated Zionist camp, and how they claimed ‘Argentinianess' in order to legitimize their participation in this transnational project. Within a project aimed at building the Jewish ‘national' homeland, Jewish women developed their own discourse and agenda. While the male Zionist camp was fraught with political disagreements, women purposefully stayed away from ideological battles and engaged into what has been termed “practical Zionism.” Within the female international Zionist organization, each country's federation acted in the name of their nations, and their contributions in the country's name was duly recorded and widely advertised. In Argentina, WIZO (Women's International Zionist Organization), by far the largest single Zionist organization in the country, had been founded in 1926 by Ashkenazic women. Since then, they had succeeded in bringing large numbers of women and youth to their cause, and had created chapters in towns and cities with a Jewish population. Sephardic women, however, had not joined their Ashkenazic sisters, and, when they participated in Zionist activities, they did so within “Sephardic” Zionist groups, mainly as the fund-raising arm of the (male) leadership. Finally, in 1945, Sephardic women joined in and founded various Sephardic centers. In 1948, however, a new female Sephardic Zionist organization came to life as the result of decisions taken at the “Second Regional Sephardic Convention”: the Central Council of Sephardic Women. Ultimately, the presentation will explore the meanings of Sephardic women's participation in this political project, one that allowed for the configuration and definition of the very issues of gender, national and ethnic identities.