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‘Four Mothers’: The Womb in the Public Sphere 133

Once more, women activists are denied a political voice in their own right, but
gain it when they are joined by a legitimate mainstream one.

Displaying the womb – conflicting interpretations

The media coverage of Four Mothers, as in the case of other social movements,
can be perceived as an instrument for realizing the movement’s goals (van
Zoonen, 1996). It assists in mobilizing a consensus for the ideas put forward by
the activists, provides symbolic links to other political and social participants,
strengthens the commitment and dedication of the members themselves and
serves the process of collective identifying. At the same time, however, as has
been documented in the case of other social activists, media–movement inter-
actions are characterized by a process of limiting and restricting the group’s
collective identity in favour of the ideas that adhere to consensual political
paradigms (van Zoonen, 1996). In this particular case, it is the framing of Four
Mothers as a movement whose legitimacy derives from the private sphere. [...]
How can such achievements be understood in light of what seems from the
analysis presented herein to be consistent biases restricting the legitimacy of
the movement? Possible answers include reference to the general weariness
of the Israeli public of the war in Lebanon and the price it exacts, as well as
the readiness of the political establishment to seek alternative solutions to the
situation. The willingness thereby of several prominent male political leaders to
jump on the bandwagon capitalizing the momentum, has certainly strengthened
the movement significantly. This perspective assumes that Four Mothers has
capitalized on existing changes in the political system and public opinion.
However, a complementary interpretation suggests that Four Mothers served as
a catalyst stimulating the public to put pressure on sympathetic politicians to
express their silenced, non-popular ideas and therefore to break the mainstream
‘spiral of silence’ (Noelle–Neumann, 1974). We argue that the newspapers
treated the phenomenon of Four Mothers within an easily acceptable frame of
motherhood (private sphere), rather than the alternative threatening one of
citizenship (public sphere). This form of news management allowed the
incorporation of Four Mothers and the radical discourse of maternal resistance
into mainstream consensual media discourse. This very process of seemingly
depoliticizing women actually facilitated the voicing of a female political
alternative. [...]
Two clear perspectives can be drawn from the resonance that the Four
Mothers movement has had in the public discourse.

In search of the ‘civic’ voice

The first suggests that the time is finally ripe to accept women’s voice as a civic,
rational voice, equal in its legitimacy and persuasive power to that of a man. This