Full circle

Description

Full Circle is the first and only film to have ever been made on the most revolutionary social experiment of the century - the attempt to create sexual equality between women and men on the Israeli kibbutz. Through archival footage and interviews with several generations of kibbutz members, the film follows the evolution of family life and work roles from pioneering days to the present. The original utopian goal was total gender equality. Children lived apart from their parents in a special children's community. Freed from daily child care, women participated fully in all economic sectors of the community by working alongside men as equal partners. In the 1960s, when the rest of the Western world began to embrace feminism, the new generation of kibbutz women began to return to more traditional gender roles. Rejecting the achievements of their grandparents, the women returned to their traditional role: cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. Today, with women no longer participating in the productive economic sectors of the community, the original egalitarian ideology has been compromised. Full Circle raises many questions about the permanence of social reform, the adaptability of human nature and the goals of sexual equality. This is a groundbreaking film for use in sociology, women's studies, Jewish studies, Middle East studies, anthropology and gender studies. Note that it has recently been revised with new material inserted.

Runtime

56 min

Creator

Rothman, Paul

Subjects

Genre

Date of Publication

1996

Database

Alexander Street

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