Addressing participants attending a Ramada Hotel kenos, MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Moshe Gafne addressed discrimination against chareidi women in the workforce. The kenos was attended by hundreds of working chareidi women. The speech was organized by Temech, an American/Israeli organization which promotes Parnassa for women in Israel.
Gafne rejects the contention that chareidi women do not work, stating this is baseless as is known in the chareidi community. He feels the chareidi tzibur does wish to work, stating “There are many who struggle to survive as they continuing learning Torah but there are also many who are seeking to work and we must assist them”.
Gafne stated that he has spoken with many heads of large companies who feel the chareidi women maintain a very high work ethic along with a high moral and professional standard. He explains that he is working with Minister of the Economy Aryeh Deri and other cabinet ministers and the matter of chareidi employment remains high on his agenda.
The discussion then shifted to salaries among chareidi women, who feel by and large they are underpaid. Women participating in the event explained they are aware that non chareidi women with the same qualifications as they have earn more than they do. Gafne promised he would work to correct this and he hopes to advance a bill to correct the discrimination against the chareidi community.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Wages are a function of supply and demand, everyone’s salary is the the amount it would take to replace them. if you do a job that makes your employer $1,000 but you can be replaced by some kid out of high school for $50, your salary will be $50. A McDonald’s employee does not get paid more if the company gets richer.
If a charadi woman would be worth more money the empoyer would pay that in order to keep her under his employment, if she can not get a job for more pay elsewhere then it shows that she is getting what she deserves.
Do those women have a kid every year, and while it is illegal in the US to penalize a woman for having a child, in Israel the laws are different.
#1
chareidi women
are unlikely to pack up in search of promotion or better employment opportunities and move elsewhere.
They are also unlikely to organize and go on strike
Also they are less likely to sue for harrassment than say their counterparts in the US
The upshot is
on one hand it makes them attractive for office workers
but on the other and allows their employers to keep their wages ridiculously low
#1 wrote:while it is illegal in the US to penalize a woman for having a child, in Israel the laws are different.
Untrue: in Israel the employee receives her salary for three months after birth from the govt then the employer must take her back for at least two months. Then if he eants to fire her he must give her a 30 day notice. She can lower her hours unilaterally.