Marchand Lecture: Pnina Lahav, "The Only Woman in the Room"

Pnina Lahav discusses her biography of Golda Meir, who rose to become prime minister of Israel. Presented in partnership with the Phyllis Marchand Leadership Lecture Fund. In person and virtual.

To view this event on YouTube, please click here.

About the Book: 

In this authoritative and empathetic biography, Pnina Lahav reexamines the life of Golda Meir (1898–1978) through a feminist lens, focusing on her recurring role as a woman standing alone among men. "The Only Woman in the Room" is the first book to contend with Meir’s full identity as a woman, Jew, Zionist leader, and one of the founders of Israel, providing a richer portrait of her persona and legacy.

Meir, Lahav shows, deftly deflected misogyny as she traveled the path to becoming Israel’s fourth, and only female, prime minister, from 1969 to 1974. Lahav revisits the youthful encounters that forged Meir’s passion for socialist Zionism and reassesses her decision to separate from her husband and leave her children in the care of others. Enduring humiliation and derision from her colleagues, Meir nevertheless led in establishing Israel as a welfare state where social security, workers’ rights, and maternity leave became law. Lahav looks at the challenges that beset Meir’s premiership, particularly the disastrous Yom Kippur War, which led to her resignation and withdrawal from politics, as well as Meir’s bitter duel with feminist and civil rights leader Shulamit Aloni, Meir’s complex relationship with the Israeli and American feminist movements, and the politics that led her to distance herself from feminism altogether.

Exploring the tensions between Meir’s personal and political identities, "The Only Woman in the Room" provides a groundbreaking new account of Meir’s life while also illuminating the difficulties all women face as they try to ascend in male-dominated fields.

About the Speaker: 

During the course of her legal career, Pnina Lahav has published nearly 50 journal articles and four books, including the critically acclaimed "Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century". Winner of Israel’s Seltner Award (1998) and the Gratz College Centennial Book Award (1998), she recently completed a biography of Israel’s fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, that asks how a lone woman surrounded by men makes it to the top.

Known as a gifted teacher, Professor Lahav was the recipient of the Boston University Law Melton Prize for excellence in teaching in 2011. For her excellence in scholarship she was awarded the Life Achievement Award in Israel Studies by the Israel Studies Institute and the Association for Israel Studies in June 2017. Professor Lahav delivered several endowed lectures, including the Lapidus Lecture at Princeton University in March 2015, the Rockoff Lecture at Rutgers University in March 2017 and the Taubman Lecture at the University of California in Santa Barbara in November 2017.

In addition to being Professor of Law Emeritus at Boston University, Lahav has taught at Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Herzlia, Oxford University and Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in Lyon, France. 

FROM THE ORGANIZERS

The Phyllis Marchand Leadership Lecture at the Princeton Public Library:

The Marchand Lecture, dedicated to “inspiring excellence in community based leadership,” is an annual library event held in honor of Phyllis Marchand, Princeton Township’s longest serving mayor and a leader and leadership mentor in the community for five decades.

Phyllis Marchand, former Princeton Township mayor and Township Committee member, died in the spring of 2021, after serving in Princeton’s local government for 22 years, 14 of them as mayor. In addition to her government service, she had leadership roles in several community non-profits including: the D&R Greenway (she was chair of Board of Trustees at the time of her death); Princeton YWCA; McCarter Theatre; HomeFront; Planned Parenthood; the Coalition for Peace Action; the D&R Canal Commission; Princeton-Pettoranello Sister City Foundation; the New Jersey League of Municipalities; the Mercer Council for Alcohol and Drug Addiction; Corner House; the Jewish Center of Princeton; Cancer Care; the Princeton Garden Theatre; and the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

Community Room Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Assistive listening system compatible with personal T-coil-enabled devices (compatible  headphones also available for use during programs)
• English-language subtitles for films (when available)
• If there is an accommodation that you need or would like so that you can fully enjoy library programs, please visit our Accommodations Request Form.

Upcoming events