An eye-opening look at Israeli women’s life expectancy and health.

Why are the life expectancy and health of Israeli women poor compared to women in other developed countries? Scrutinizing the Israeli military, medical, and religious establishments, Susan Sered discloses the myths, public policies, and pressures that control female bodies in Israel and encumber and endanger Israeli women in their roles as soldiers, wives, and mothers. What Makes Women Sick? integrates medical anthropology, gender studies, and women’s health policy to explore issues such as women in combat and government incentives for bearing children. Sered develops a passionate ethnography of Israeli society that resonates universal truths about women, power, and authority.

Susan Sered is senior research associate at Suffolk University’s Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights, and associate professor of anthropology at Bar Ilan University in Israel. Her publications include Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity, Religion and Healing in America, and Priestess, Mother,Sacred Sister, as well as dozens of articles in religion, anthropology, and women’s studies journals.

“Susan Sered offers insightful analysis and reveals an understanding of the complexity of Israel’s socio-politicoreligious dynamic.”
–Jerusalem Post