Bias-breaking role of Israeli women

On International Women’s Day, we join people around the world to celebrate the remarkable achievements by women and girls. At the same time, we recognise the challenges and biases that women face, and recommit ourselves to raise awareness and take action for gender equality and equal opportunities in all aspects of life.

As a woman myself, I have faced my fair share of challenges – from my early school years, through military service, higher education and finally in my career in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

To be clear, I am referring to challenges based just on the fact that I am a woman. From natural assumption of what I can or cannot do, to pointing me towards what “suits” me better, to outright denial of certain jobs.

Hence, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment are one of my top priorities as ambassador of Israel to Thailand.

Since its establishment, Israel has made tremendous efforts towards reaching gender equality. The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 laid the fundamental foundation to ensure complete equality of social and political rights without discrimination based on sex. This was followed by the 1951 Women’s Equal Rights Law, which ensures full equality between men and women. Since then, Israel has adopted a wide range of legislation, policy framework and advocacy campaigns.

Perhaps most importantly, the country developed a series of education programmes focused on advancing equal opportunities, reducing the gender gap and eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and girls. Furthermore, Israel has developed various programmes and institutional mechanisms to encourage young girls and women to become an active and essential part of Israeli society.

One such mechanism is Israel’s Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women. Established in 1998, the authority’s mandate is to coordinate and review the government’s activities concerning women’s status. It also provides a comprehensive guide on women’s rights ranging from employment and education to health, violence and more.

Nowadays, women are prevalent in every aspect of Israel’s leadership – politics, business, law, science & technology and more. With nine female ministers, the current Israeli cabinet has the largest female representatives in its history. A woman, Judge Ester Hayut, also holds the prestigious and powerful position of the president of Israel’s Supreme Court.

This progress is even more obvious in the business sector.

The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs ranked Israel the best country for women entrepreneurs in 2020.

On the international front, Israel is delighted to exchange experiences and best practices with many countries across the globe. Through Mashav – Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation – Israel has promoted the empowerment of women through multiple training courses, both in Israel and abroad. Golda Meir, the country’s first female prime minister and the third woman to become head of government in the world, established the Mashav Carmel Training Centre (MCTC) in 1961. The centre was the first of its kind in the domain of women’s empowerment by conducting training activities to advance women’s participation in public life. Over the past six decades, more than 29,000 women and men from more than 147 countries, including numerous leading officials and entrepreneurs from Thailand, have benefited from MCTC’s capacity building programmes and training activities.

Despite our tremendous achievements towards gender equality and promoting the empowerment of women, there is still much work to be done.

Women around the globe are still under-represented in nearly every area and face endless obstacles rising to the top of their fields. This is not only unjust but also harmful to the development of our cultures and economies.

I call upon governments and organisations to put this issue high on their agendas, and to fight the biases and discriminations against women, for the benefit of all.