In addition, many women are prevented from working full time by the lack of childcare provision. Day care centers only serve about one-fifth of children under the age of four. Kindergartens only operate in the morning, leaving the problem of what to do with the children in the afternoon. The situation with primary schools is the same. Prime Minister Ehud Barak s 1999 election campaign promised the introduction of a long school day, but so far this has not been implemented.
Israeli women are victims of endemic violence, both domestic and sexual.
In an Israel Women s Network report on the status of women in Israel, Shoshana London Sappir records that in the first three months of 2000, six Israeli women were murdered by their partners. One third of Israeli women will be a victim of sexual assault or rape in their lifetimes. A rape is committed every 12 hours and other types of sexual assault every four hours. A network of voluntary organisations exists to deal with these problems on the therapeutic and educational fronts, but meagre government resources are devoted to the problem. They are guaranteed equal rights by the Declaration of Independence.