Shulamith Shahar

Shulamith Shahar (; 2 November 1928 – 9 January 2025) was an Israeli historian. Shahar's 1981 study Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages was the first to specifically examine the role of women in the medieval period. The book is used as a text for gender studies and medieval history classes. This, and her subsequent books, have been published in both Hebrew and English. She wrote historical articles in these languages as well as French and translated three books from Latin to Hebrew.

Life and career Shulamith Shahar was born in Latvia on 2 November 1928, the youngest of three daughters of industrialist Moshe Weinstock and his wife Deborah. In 1933, the family emigrated to Mandate Palestine, moving to Haifa. At the time, Shahar spoke only Russian. Her middle sister, Dina, died in the early 1940s during a German massacre of Jews outside Riga. In high school, Shahar served in the Haganah, a defence force, where she was in charge of an arms depot. After graduating, she attended Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she soon earned her bachelor's degree in history. At age 19, Shahar married Yitzhak Cohen. They had one child, Evyatar, and divorced when he was two. Shahar then returned to Jerusalem to pursue a master's degree. To support herself, Shahar taught at a high school.

Academic career In 1981, Shahar published a groundbreaking study, Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages. The study was published in book form in 1983, and subsequently translated into English. "The first historical work that dealt with history and way of life of women in an era that was always told from a male perspective", Fourth Estate is often used in gender studies and medieval history courses.