The Hadassah Foundation is committed to ongoing learning about the field of gender equity, the needs of women and girls in Israel and the United States, and the best practices in philanthropy. We are also committed to sharing what we learn to strengthen and grow the ecosystem of feminist organizations. As part of this work, we have curated several recent news articles that are relevant to the work we do. While only one of the articles featured here is about our grant recipients (Forum Dvorah and Israel Women’s Network), most address the underrepresentation of women in Israel’s political leadership, a problem many Hadassah Foundation grantees are addressing.
In this post, we explore articles about ongoing issues in Israel. In the coming days, we’ll share recent articles addressing gender equity issues in the U.S. Jewish community. Please note that the Hadassah Foundation does not endorse every view expressed in the articles below.
Grantees in the News
State Did Not Meet its Obligation for Equal Representation of Women – High Court
Jerusalem Post, February 25
Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled last month that the state did not meet its legal obligations for equal representation of women in the public sector. This was in response to a 2023 petition filed by Hadassah Foundation grant recipients Forum Dvorah and Israel Women’s Network, alongside Na’amat, another women’s organization. The petition addressed the shortage of women serving as directors-general of Israel’s government ministries; only two of 29 ministries are led by women. In the ruling, Justice Noam Sohlberg called on the government to cover the petitioners’ legal expenses and set guidelines that would ensure it complies with Israeli law. As Sohlberg noted, when women are not represented at senior management levels, they “are not partners, practically speaking, in a great deal of decisions made in the country.”
Gender Issues In Israel
Israel Is More Sexist Than We Think – and Men Pay the Price, Too
Haaretz, March 21
Writing about the work of Israeli gender scholar Orly Bareket of Ben-Gurion University, Haaretz addresses Israel’s numerous gender gaps, most notably in wages and political leadership but also in health and behavioral expectations. “The disparity between men and women in Israel is especially noticeable in political representation,” Bareket says. “By this criterion, Israel ranks at the bottom of the world list, alongside countries such as Pakistan, Turkey and China.”
War and Domestic Strife Worsen Gender Disparities for Middle Eastern Women
The Media Line, March 18
This article highlights how gender equality has eroded in both Israel and Egypt over the past year. Tali Nir, CEO of the NGO 121 – Engine for Social Change, tells The Media Line that Israeli “women are bearing the brunt of the war—economically, socially, and in decision-making spaces. This isn’t just about representation. It directly affects decision-making. When women are excluded from leadership, policies that address their needs—especially in times of crisis—are simply not a priority.”
Why this Mizrahi Feminist Movement is Disbanding — but Not Disappearing
+972 Magazine, February 28
Shovrot Kirot (Breaking the Walls) was one of Israel’s few feminist organizations led by Jewish women of Mizrahi heritage, and it relied almost exclusively on small grass-roots gifts. The group helped raise awareness about the Israeli government’s historic discrimination against Jews of Middle Eastern descent and also led an unsuccessful effort to halt the eviction of residents of a working-class neighborhood in Tel Aviv. Founders Sapir Sluzker Amran and Carmen Elmakiyes Amos tell +972 they are disbanding for financial reasons but will continue to remain active politically.
Women’s Leadership: Key to Addressing Israel’s Crises
Jerusalem Post, March 5
Attributing many of Israel’s current problems to “short-sighted, reactive, and tactical rather than strategic” mindsets, Sivan Koren, chair of the National Union of Israeli Students, points to the need for more women in top leadership. “From countries led by women during the COVID-19 pandemic to the responsible economic management of women in key financial roles, time and again, female leadership has been proven to create stability, prevent collapse, and foster long-term planning.”
‘Very, Very Afraid’: Trump’s Inflammatory Rhetoric Is Impacting Israel’s Transgender Community
Haaretz, February 24
Conversations with transgender activists in Israel reveal their concern that U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-trans stance is having an influence in Israel as well, with reports of increasingly violent anti-trans rhetoric.