Does Gender Equality Really Exist in Israel?

Education
The integration of women into the public labor market depends on the level of their (higher) education and their fields of study. The last three decades have seen a rise in the percentage of women studying in universities. In the 1979-1980 academic year, 45% of students receiving degrees were women, while in 2004-2005, the percentage rose to 59%. Thus today, women comprise more than half of the student body. The greatest rise was recorded for advanced degrees: The proportion of women among those who receive masters' degrees grew from 38% in 1979-1980 to 57% in 2004-2005. The percentage of women receiving doctorate degrees nearly doubled: from 27% to 52%.

But despite the fact that there are more women than men in the institutes of higher education, most of the women concentrate in so-called “feminine” fields such as teaching, nursing, humanities and social sciences. They tend to shy away from fields that are considered to carry greater earning potential such as the technology, science, engineering and medical professions; these fields are considered more “masculine.” These gender distinctions in both professions and occupations, whether we are consciously aware of them or not, begin even before entering the labor market. See Diagram 1 below.

Diagram 1: Students in Institutes of Higher Education by Field of Study and by Gender
In the 2004-2005 Academic Year
(In percentages)

An examination of academic faculties reveals significant gender discrepancies: True, as of the 2005-2006 academic year the percentage of women studying in universities for a bachelor's degree was 55%; for a masters' degree--56.6%; and for a doctorate--52.5%. Despite this, the representation of women on academic faculties was much lower, and in the 2004-2005 academic year women constituted 43.3% of lecturers, 35.2% of senior lecturers, 21.6% of associate professors, and only 11.9% of full professors.

It is interesting to note the negative correlation that exists between the proportion of women in specific academic fields and their rate of advancement: In fields where women constitute smaller percentages of the student population, the proportion of female professors is largest (28% in physical and natural sciences, 25% in computer sciences, 15% in engineering, 14% in humanities, 11% in social sciences, and only 10% in the field of education).

Occupation
Most of the occupations are also characterized by gender segmentation, paralleling the distinction between “masculine” and “feminine” subject fields in universities. For example, 21.3% of working women work in the education field, versus only 5.4% of men. Yet just 9.3% of working women are employed in industry, versus 21.3% of males.

Diagram 2: Employed Persons by Industry and Occupation, 2006
(In percentages)

In spite of the above, it is important to note that a trend is indeed developing in which the borderlines between male and female occupations are becoming less distinct. For example, though the business and financial sectors have traditionally been considered male domains, the number of women employed in these sectors has risen over the years. In 2003 the percentage of women working in these sectors was about 46% (and the percentage of women who worked in these sectors among all working women was 15%). In the years 1985-2003 the number of women employed in the financial sector rose by about 170%. However, it should be noted that the total number of employees in this sector rose by about 172%.

Still, the segmentation of women employed in the business and financial sectors shows us that most of the women employed in this sector (46% in 2003) serve as clerks, while only a minority (6.2%) hold managerial positions—and these are mainly on the lower and middle managerial levels.

Workplace Hierarchy Levels
In many occupations there is a hierarchical structure of positions, and salaries are determined by the ‘ranking’ of the position (senior, lower) on the hierarchical scale. A major attempt to equalize the status of women in the workplace was carried out in the public sector, which is more easily controlled by legislation affecting work policy and modes of action.

Women constitute two-thirds of employees in the public service, and 45% of women working outside of the home are, in fact, employed in public service. But despite the official and legislative attempts to obtain equality of gender representation, the proportion of women in high-levels position in the public sector is very small. The percentage of women in Level A managerial positions (CEO, assistant CEO, administrator of a large hospital ) was 10%; in Level B managerial positions (deputy CEO, administrator of a small hospital) was 23%; in Level C (director of a section, department or domain) was 31%.

Another high-level position in the public sector is membership on boards of directors of government companies. Legislation was passed regarding these positions, which succeeded in opening the door to many women. However, the number of women who actually serve in these positions is still relatively small.

Diagram 3: Percentages of Women on Boards of Directors of Government Companies, 1993-2007

(note: read this diagram from right to left)

Women today still earn less than men. Even if the base salary is equal, as mandated by law, it is often unequally supplemented by remuneration for overtime work hours, job-related travel expenses, etc. One of the explanations for the gender discrepancy is that women usually assume greater responsibility for housework and for the family  (see 'double shift' below). These responsibilities prevent them from working overtime or assuming positions that require frequent travel. For the same reason, many women are forced to work part time.

It is no wonder, then, that the average monthly salary for women in 2006 was NIS 5,521 compared with 8,712 for men.  On the other hand, the gender wage discrepancy is smaller in salaries based on hourly wages; women earn an average of 38.3 NIS an hour while men earn 45.6 NIS. The reason for the difference is that the datum regarding monthly salary depends on whether the position is full- or part-time, while hourly wages datum is not influenced by this.

Even in the education field, which is a very common occupation for women, there are wage disparities: As of 2006, the average monthly wage was 7,860 NIS, but gender segmentation reveals that the average monthly wage for women in this field was 5,521 NIS, as opposed to an average of 8,712 NIS for men. Salary gaps exist not only in the field of education, and not only among different fields, but across all fields. For example, the average salary in the financial sector (in 2003) was 10,133 NIS a month and 8,077 NIS in the business sector. However, the average women's salary was 7,750 NIS in the financial sector, in contrast with 13,673 NIS for men. In the business sector it was 6,067 NIS (women) versus 9,761 NIS (men).

Thus we uncover an entire system leading to gender inequality. Women study “women's professions” that will garner lower salaries in the future; even if they work in “male” professions they often work part-time; and even if they are full-time workers they often cannot work overtime. As a result, many of them do not succeed in climbing up the corporate ladder in their workplace. Thus, salary imparities between the sexes exist from the very beginning and only increase as time goes on.

Even though legislatures like to consider themselves mirrors of the societies they are supposed to represent, the proportion of women in most legislatures around the world does not begin to approach the percentage of women in the general population. The problem is even more acute in Israel: only 17 women serve in the seventeenth Knesset of 2007. Although the data indicates a general trend of moderate increase in the number of women from 1992 to today, the number of women in the current Knesset is smaller than the number in the previous Knesset (which had an unusually large percentage of women).

Table 1: Female Knesset Members throughout the Years
(In numbers)

*In the sixteenth Knesset, four out of the 25 female Knesset members served for only a few months.
(Adapted from Knesset site data)

This moderate increase is not encouraging when we compare Israel to legislatures in other countries. In Diagram 4 below, it is evident that Israel's parliament has one of the lowest female representations in the world. The diagram includes only democratic countries, but there are even a few non-democratic countries that exceed Israel in female representation. In Cuba, for example, 36% of parliament members are female; in Singapore, 24.5%; and in China, 20.3%. Israel, in contrast, has only 14.2% women Knesset members.

Diagram 4: Women in Legislatures around the World, 2007
(In percentages)

The data indicate that not only do individual women have limited success in integrating the labor market and political world, but also that a very large group of the population is severely under-represented in their legislature. This fact has significant ramifications for the lives of the citizens and especially female citizens since under-representation of women in the Knesset translates directly to an even more limited presence in the government (see Table 2 below). The government is the place not only for policy-making discussions, but for shaping domestic policy as well as foreign affairs.

Table 2: Female Members of Israel's Government over the Years
(In numbers)

Abu Zaid, Salaam and Barbara Swirski, 2006. Women in Financial and Business Services in Israel, Tel Aviv: Adva Center [Hebrew].

Swirski, Barbara, 2007.  A Gender Perspective on the 2008 Budget for the State of Israel, Tel Aviv: Adva Center [Hebrew].

Tamir, Tal (ed.), 2007. Women in Israel 2006: Between Theory and Reality, Ramat Gan: The Israel Women's Network.

Women in Israel governments. Knesset site:
http://www.knesset.gov.il/govt/heb/GovtByParameter.asp?par=1

Planning and Budgeting Committee, Council for Higher Education, 2006.
Report No. 31/32 for years 2003/2004 and 2004/2005.
http://www.che.org.il/articles/article.asp?articleID=2

The Central Bureau of Statistics, 2007.Statistical Abstract of 2007, 58.
http://www1.cbs.gov.il/energy/shnatonhnew_site.htmThe Israel Women's Network, 2004.

Women in Israel: Data Book, 2004.
http://www.iwn.org.il/inner.asp?PageID=3

Inter-Parliamentary Union
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm