The salary gaps in Israel have narrowed since 1990, when they were 47 percent, but in the past decade there has been almost no change. The “motherhood penalty” in Israel, a term describing the reduction in women’s salaries after the birth of their first child, reaches 28 percent in Israel, according to a new study by the Chief Economist Division in the Finance Ministry. With regard to the personal injustice, I do not think much need be said to demonstrate the nature and force of the injury that each of the two respected directors will suffer personally.
- In 1998–1999, 54 officers were expelled from the IDF on charges of sexual misconduct while others faced demotion or imprisonment.
- In the eighteenth Knesset, one woman – Orly Levi-Abekasis – serves as one of the Deputy Speakers, another – Yirdena Miller-Horovitz – is the Secretary General and two women – Tzipi Hotovely and Ronit Tirosh – are committee chairpersons.
- In Germany it is double, in Denmark – 21 percent, in the United States – 31 percent, and in Great Britain – 44 percent.
- After dropping in the wake of last April’s election, the number of women voted into office has the chance to rise once again in the upcoming “do-over election” on September 17.
- By the eighteenth Knesset in 2011, six women sat on the Finance Committee and two belonged to the Foreign Affiars and Defense Committee.
- The laws were a mere interpretative tool to be applied by the courts in applying legislative provisions.
In addition to including an Arab party for the first time in Israel’s 73-year-history, this government also boasts a record number of female ministers—nine out of 27. Judicial decisions regarding the principle of gender equality in the public spheres of politics, economic life, and the defense forces, which are ostensibly secular institutions, have nevertheless been affected asian-date.net/western-asia/israel-women by the extent to which they impinge on religious values or sensitivities. Following the amendment, a modest amount of women began to enlist in combat support and light combat roles in a few areas, including the Artillery Corps, infantry units, and various armored divisions.
The decision provoked violent opposition from religious groups and is said not to be applied in practice by the religious courts. Apart from the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when extreme manpower shortages brought many female Israeli soldiers into land battles, women were historically prohibited by the Israeli government to go into battle, and instead served in a variety of technical and administrative support roles. Soon after the establishment of the IDF, a decree for the removal of women from frontline positions was brought into effect, and all female soldiers were accordingly pulled back into more secure areas. The cited rationale for this decision revolved around concerns over the high possibility of female Israeli soldiers being captured and subsequently raped or sexually assaulted by hostile Arab forces. While the consensus was that it was fair and equitable to demand equal sacrifice and service from women, it was argued that the risk of Israeli prisoners of war being subjected to sexual abuse was infinitely greater for female soldiers than it was for male soldiers, and therefore unacceptable.
Palestinian elections have not been held since 2006, and both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority restrict women’s rights. Abortion is illegal in the Palestinian Territories and women must have permission from a “guardian” to travel from the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to a Hamas-run court, as well as permission from Israel or Egypt, which control Gaza’s borders. Women in Israel earn 67 percent of what men earn, according to the 2020 Gender Index conducted by the Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Feminist organizations
By examining women’s status in these various legal forums, we can obtain an overview of the position of women in Israeli society. After dropping in the wake of last April’s election, the number of women voted into office has the chance to rise once again in the upcoming “do-over election” on September 17. In the context of Israeli politics, it is the individual parties that possess the greatest ability to increase female representatives’ presence in the Knesset and access to senior roles. Looking ahead, these pressures are only more likely to increase with the expected growth in support for Haredi parties. While the anticipated surge in percentage of the ultra-orthodox in Israel’s population over the next few decades will probably translate into more seats for Haredi parties, the fragmentation in Israeli politics already makes it very difficult to form a government without them.
The awakening to the reality of women’s disadvantage brought a decade of feminist legislation, which was initiated by feminist organizations. The first legislative measure in 1987 was to reverse a Labor Court decision that had upheld mandatory early retirement for women. After that, an equal employment opportunity law was passed, with remedies for all forms of employment discrimination and conversion of childcare rights from maternal to parental rights. Laws requiring affirmative action for directors of government companies and for civil service employees and imposing an obligation to pay equal pay for work of equal value were passed. In 1998 the Knesset adopted a law prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace, which extended its prohibitions beyond the workplace to other dependent relationships, in education, healthcare and the military, and also to non-dependent relationships where there are repeated acts of harassment.
Israel
The OECD reported in 2016 that income disparity between men in women in Israel is particularly high compared with other countries in the OECD. On average, men in Israel make 22 percent more than women, which places Israel among the four OECD with the highest wage inequality between men and women.
The Public Sphere: Politics, Economics, and the Military
Many Israeli women were accepted to the pilot selection phase in the Israeli Air Force flight academy some completed it successfully. The first female jet fighter pilot, Roni Zuckerman, received her wings in 2001. By 2006, the first female pilots and navigators graduated from the IAF training course, and several hundred women entered combat units, primarily in support roles, like intelligence gatherers, instructors, social workers, medics and engineers. When the Second Lebanon War broke out, women took part in field operations alongside men.