MUNDLAKEMPLOYMENTDISCRIMINATION30-2.DOC 1/14/2009 4:36 PM 213 THE LAW OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN EMPLOYMENT: BETWEEN EQUALITY AND POLARIZATION Guy Mundlak† I. INTRODUCTION Israeli law on employment discrimination is rather developed “on the books” but only in its infancy “in action.” In this article I would like to describe the historical development of the law, the reasons for its underdeveloped implementation over a long period of time, and the relationship between the law and society. Admittedly, numerous explanations can account for the gap between the law on the books and in action, such as problems related to the legal process (rules of procedure, evidence, and available remedies), or to the nature of discriminatory practices (difficult to name and claim, practiced in private even when public, complex and multifaceted). Such accounts may be simpler than the one offered here, and may also be more universal in nature. Without denying the validity of such explanations, this article emphasizes a particular view of how the law interrelates with the constitution of identity groups and the role of civil society in setting the law into motion, with the manifold groups protected by the law considered to be competing for judicial attention and sympathy. The article was written for a broader project that compares labor law in three Mediterranean states. 1 The choice of accounting for the development of the equal opportunities law from the particular perspective of the interaction between law and social developments, suggests that despite cross-border transplantation of ideas and legal institutions, this body of law is strongly attached to local developments in the social sphere. Thus, describing this relationship is important for explaining the law, but at the same time it also provides a fascinating text on Israel’s many social cleavages and the role of law in † Professor of Labor Law in the Faculty of Law and the Department of Labor Studies, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. 1. The articles comparing Turkey, Greece and Israel appear in this volume of the Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal.