Our grantee, the Haifa-based Isha L'Isha (board members and staff, above), is aiding women who clean buildings in that city's municipal buildings. These workers are employed by a contractor, who underpays them and denies them benefits. They are putting pressure on the city to employ them directly.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Integrating Arab Israeli Teachers into Jewish Schools
We started the day with a visit to Jewish elementary school in Haifa, where our grantee Merchavim has placed several teachers of Arab Israeli background. There is a surplus of Arab Israeli women trained as teachers, and a shortage of English, math, and science teachers in Jewish schools. The teachers we met, above, said they felt welcomed and at home at the Jewish school.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Supporting Female Entrepreneurs in South Tel Aviv
Our final stop of the day was to our grantee Microfy, which is helping female entrepreneurs like Orly and Keren, pictured above, in South Tel Aviv, a depressed part of the city. Microfy provides training and on-going support to these women via mentoring and a business forum, where they can network and learn from each other.
Strengthening the Environment for Female Entrepreneurs in the Negev
At our visit to the Adva Center, we learned about the role of the Mayor's advisors on women's issues, a position every municipality is required to have--but only a handful fund as a full-time position. Edna Sabag, of the Beersheva Municipality, above right, is one of those rare women. Along with Adva staff, also pictured above, she has created a network for these women. Their new project, which is funded by the Foundation, is to improve the environment in the Negev for Jewish and Bedouin businesswomen. Three businesswomen from each of 20 cities in the region will create locally tailored efforts.
Securing Economic Rights for Israeli Women
Our grantee, Itach-Maaki, fights for the rights of economically insecure women in Israel. Today, they told us about their efforts to help Bedouin women in polygamous marriages, especially when they have been abused by their husbands, and their work on behalf of the 30,000 (low paid) Israeli women who work as teachers' assistants, and who are ill represented by the main workers' union.
Training Women for Hi-Tech Jobs
Finding Work for Arab-Israeli Women
Monday, April 24, 2017
Catching up with our Tannenbaum Winners
We were fortunate to have dinner with two of our Israeli Bernice S. Tannenbaum Prize winners: 2014 winner Yifat Bitton, founder of Tmura, and Lilach Tzur Ben-Moshe, the 2016 winner, who founded Turning the Tables. Bitton, second from right in the first row, uses the legal system to fight for the rights of women, and Ben-Moshe, pictured to her left, works with women exiting prostitution. The Tannenbaum Prize is awarded annually to an emerging leader in Israel or the US who has advanced the cause of girls and women. The previous night at dinner, we were able to catch up with the inaugural Tannenbaum winner, Vardit Dameiri Madar, a social justice lawyer who recently left her long-time position at Foundation grantee Yedid for a new job heading up the legal clinic at Hebrew University.