This book is a his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al study of the work of the Jew­ish women archi­tects who flour­ished in Pales­tine under the British Man­date (1920−1948). This com­pre­hen­sive study adds a new chap­ter to the sto­ry of women in archi­tec­ture in the twen­ti­eth cen­tu­ry, demon­strat­ing how women archi­tects made a key con­tri­bu­tion to the design of the emer­gent Israeli built environment.

Through in-depth his­tor­i­cal doc­u­men­ta­tion based on new­ly dis­cov­ered archival mate­r­i­al, Sigal Davi­di ana­lyzes the influ­ence of Euro­pean mod­ernism on the design of insti­tu­tions for the wel­fare of women and chil­dren. These were devel­oped by Zion­ist wom­en’s orga­ni­za­tions that drew inspi­ra­tion from the idea of the New Woman.

This book offers a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary per­spec­tive on the study of gen­der, archi­tec­ture and the Jew­ish soci­ety in pre-State Israel. It pro­vides a fresh look at this peri­od based on new research and is intend­ed for aca­d­e­mics as well as for a gen­er­al audience.