More than 500 Israeli women, politicians, CEOs, media personalities, and others, gathered for a November 10th conference on gender wage gaps and career advancement.

The Conference was organised by the Equal Pay Project – an initiative of SHATIL, the Israel Women’s Network, the Adva centre, and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission –which works to address the persisting wage gaps in Israeli society. Comparable to the US, Israeli women only earn 66 % of their male counterparts’ wages for equal work. The Project leads advocacy efforts to promote and enforce legislation as well as actions to increase employers’ awareness and understanding of the problem, including practical steps they can take to reduce gaps in their organisations.

The conference, a first time partnership with business daily The Marker’s Online web portal, brought a new kind of audience to the Project’s work.

The day included both practical advice and guidance to individual working women — including when and how to request a salary increase, and how a manager can act to reduce wage gaps in an organisation- as well as discussion on needed changes in legislation, social norms, and more.

During the day, SHATIL’s Yael Wolfenson presented the Equal Pay Calculator, an innovative tool to encourage and enable employers to identify and address gendered pay gaps.

“Equalising wages for women is a strategic goal for Israel’s economy, as well as a first-class social value,” said Tamar Adelstein Zekbach, director of the Equal Pay project. “We appreciate the amazing response of leading women taking part in this important conference as speakers and participants, and are here to assist all those who have already internalised the need for change to do so”.