Israel’s challenge on International Women’s Day

Now that Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of criminal sexual assault and rape, the disgraced movie mogul will be sentenced in a few days, bringing a two-year legal battle to a close.

The fact that Weinstein’s sentencing coincides with this year’s International Women’s Day will surely resonate with women around the world, as the allegations against him served as a catalyst for the #MeToo movement, which ignited a paradigm shift in how men and women interact in the workplace. Now, finally, more women are beginning to feel comfortable speaking up when they’re mistreated.

This is progress, but it’s not enough. Here in Israel, where #MeToo has also garnered headlines in recent years, women still lag far behind men in situations that really matter, including at the ballot box and in the workplace.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 bears this out. It revealed that Israel plummeted 18 spots in the world ranking of gender parity over the past two years.

As my colleague Noya Rimalt, a professor of law at University of Haifa and an expert in women’s rights and gender equality, points out, “If you compare Israel to the industrialized Western world, it is going backward. In most countries, you see gradual progress. In Israel, you see the opposite.”

Shekel for shekel, Israeli women are still losing out compared to men. Educated women who possess at least a bachelor’s degree only earn 78.4% of what men do.

Part of this gap can be attributed to the fact that women still shoulder most of the child-rearing burden, while they also often choose professions with lower earning potential. But that doesn’t explain why women remain woefully underrepresented in Israeli politics.

The most recent Israeli election showed that women are still largely absent in Israel’s corridors of power. Just 23% of members of Knesset and 19% of government ministry leaders are women. Israel’s female politicians are often given leadership of the less prestigious ministries, and settle for second-tier portfolios that garner far less attention. Finally, despite having a plethora of political parties to choose from, none of the major parties is currently led by women.

Due to the lack of representation of women in Israeli politics, it’s doubtful that the men in a new government will decide to rectify the issue by implementing laws to bring about more gender equity. Michal Gera Margaliot, executive director of the Israel Women’s Network, has noted, “Governments in other Western countries are [trying] to reduce the gender gap in salaries [and] promote women to higher positions in the public and private spheres. What we see in Israel is that there is very little effort put into these issues.”

THIS IS hardly shocking. Why would we expect men to change the status quo regarding an issue that barely affects them?

Study after study spells out that Israel still has much work to do to achieve gender equality. US News and World Report, for example, just released its survey on the “Best Countries for Women,” and Israel placed 45th.

Women in Israel don’t need surveys or polls to tell them what they already know: Israel isn’t nearly one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, but the Jewish state can do a lot better.

Here’s some good news: The Israeli public is ready for change.

According to an Israeli Democracy Institute poll, 52% of Israeli Jews want a political party’s Knesset list to include women in higher-ranking slots, allowing them a greater chance to be seated in parliament. Meanwhile, in the higher education sector, I see firsthand that the next generation of women have no interest to politely wait their turn until they can call the shots.

Israeli universities are educating the future female change-makers, influencers and leaders. Among the 18,000 students at the University of Haifa, women outnumber men at every degree level, where they make up 62% of BA students, 69% of MA students and 64% of PhD candidates. In fact, the percentage of Arab women enrolled at our school is on par with their Jewish counterparts, even though less than 50% of Arab women in Israel are currently employed in the workforce.

It is our hope that the Arab women we do educate will go on to change that worrisome statistic. That is because at the University of Haifa, we strive to instill in all our students a sense of equality as well as the principle that representation does matter.

Yes, women in Israel have made progress. Female combat officers are no longer an anomaly in the IDF, the country is seeing far more female entrepreneurs, and one in six CEOs in Israel is now a woman.

But Israel must build on this momentum. Higher education can take this paradigm shift to the next level by connecting women – and all diverse or marginalized groups – with tangible tools for their future careers and lives.

The writer is CEO of the American Society of the University of Haifa.