Ella Shohat: The clear division that the women draw between the negligent lifestyle of the Palestinian Arab peasant and the conscientious vision of the Jewish pioneer is typical of settler colonial discourse. The enterprise of the kibbutz—which celebrated self-sufficiently through exclusively Hebrew labor—reinforced discrimination against Palestinian Arabs and produced new arenas of conflict.
Ultimately, the film challenges and takes apart the egalitarian utopian ideal of the Yishuv. Whereas early Zionist films dared not show any negative aspects of the settlement project for fear of public reprisal and even censorship, Women/Pioneers sheds light on the power dynamics and turmoil that shook early kibbutz life. Departing from visual footage that reflects collective enthusiasm of a national renaissance, the women’s writings reveal the deep hypocrisy at the center of the kibbutz enterprise. They describe their frustration at the non-recognition of their labor as mothers and caregivers, and the challenge of raising children in a collective environment. One woman fights for “motherhood” to become an official category of work on the kibbutz roster. The tension between feminist and socialist goals was not unique to this context. In socialist societies worldwide, feminism was often lost within struggles based on egalitarianism.
The women also struggle with the implications and disillusions of “free love.” In the discussion after the screening at the New York Jewish Film Festival, Aviad explained that three out of the five women had children with men who were powerful leaders of the Zionist movement at the time. These men eventually went on to have children with younger women. The women pioneers in the film express heartbreak more than once, and struggle to consolidate the ideology of an open collective with the sense of betrayal they experience in their individual lives. They also lament their lack of political power within the kibbutz. More here.