In this paper we critically explore the role of the state in guaranteeing the protection of women and investigate the wider contexts in which states comes to formulate notions of gender security and insecurity. To this end we engage with the concept of ontological (in)security focusing on its gendered dimensions. We suggest that as issues of women’s rights and protection become complicated by the wider contexts of multiculturalism, the ability (and commitment) of the state to provide ontological security to women becomes tenuous, with marked gaps between the ways the state and the women themselves define what constitutes security and threats to security. We ask whether, and if so – in what ways, does the safeguarding of women’s rights and the protection of women from violence, factor in to state narratives of ontological security.
We explore these issues in the empirical context of Israel’s policy towards polygamy. In Israel, while polygamy is illegal, it is widespread amongst the Bedouin, and, up until recently, has been largely tolerated. Critics of the state’s lack of enforcement have accused it of supporting harmful practices amongst a marginalized and discriminated minority and hence of abusing the rights of minority women, while proponents of the state’s policy have defended it in the name of multiculturalism. Based on a gendered analysis of policy and women’s narratives we suggest that gaps between the state level and the vernacular attest to the fluid and contingent nature of state formulated notions of security.