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Overview Israel was one of the first countries to elect a female head of state – Golda Meir – but that hasn’t happened again since 1969, the year I was born. Israel ranks 53 rd in the world out of 135 on the Gender Index of the World Economic Forum – ahead of the Arab states, but way behind most Scandinavian and European countries. Other countries that might be of interest : (see chart on the right) Iceland is number 1 Rwanda is 6 Philippines is 7 Nicaragua is 12 France at 15 Namibia is 16 South Africa is 17 UK at 18 Latvia is 20 US at 28 Canada at 30 Australia 36 Israel’s ranking on gender has gone DOWN over the past decade – in 2004 Israel ranked 35… Motherhood and fertility Israel offers paid parental leave of up to 14 weeks, for men or women. Israel has free childcare above age of three It is illegal to fire pregnant women in Israel or to make pregnant workers do any lifting Israel literally pays women to have babies Abortion is legal under certain conditions, but all women who seek abortions have to be evaluated by a panel. A heterosexual married woman in her childbearing years usually cannot get a legal abortion without a medical reason unless the abortion panel declares her effectively insane. A woman who wants an abortion because she doesn’t want to have children also has to be declared by the panel mentally unwell. Abortion is free for secular teenage girls, but religious girls in national service have to pay for it. Economic equality On the rank of economic equality alone, Israel ranks 71st out of 135 countries. Women make, on average, 66% of what men make, a statistic that hasn’t significantly moved in over three decades. Arab women are on the bottom of Israel’s economic totem pole:  According to the Adva Center, the average Jewish man makes 11,833 NIS per month; the average Jewish woman makes 7,414 NIS per month; the average Arab man makes 6,383 NIS per month; the average Arab woman makes 4,956 NIS per month – less than half of what a Jewish man makes. The average monthly wage of women managers is 73% that of male managers. Even though 65% of state workers are women, less than a third reach the level of senior management. Of the 106 government authorities, only four have a woman director. Only 1 in five hi-tech workers are women In academia , 48.3 percent of Israeli women have 13 or more years of schooling compared to 45.4 percent of men. Only one in every five Israeli professors is a woman. Almost six times more men than women run their own businesses. Of the 100 top traded companies, only six are run by women Of the top 500 companies, only 5.4% are run by women, down from 8% in 2010 Only 4%  of boards chairs are women, down from 5% in 2010 18% of members of the boards are...