15 April, 2008
European Parliament, Salon des Membres

Pesrsonal background

Involved with Entrepreneurship Education since late 1970s at the Harvard Business School. A practicing entrepreneur in high tech and real estate Member of numerous boards of directors in Israel and world wide
Speak : German (Mother tongue), English, French and Hebrew

Background on the situation of women in Israeli politics

Only 15% women are members of the Israeli Parliament currently. The same proportion exists in local politics. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 there have been only 11 women ministers and 11 women vice ministers

Women in Business and in Politics:

I believe that the term "Women in Business and in Politics" is actually a substitute for the term "Women & Power. When we talk about achieving a high position in either business or politics, we actually refer to the accumulation of resources such as money, useful contacts, social standing, political influence, etc.

In order to play an equal role in society, women need to have in their passion at least the equal amount of resources as men, because they do not yet have the same access as men to the corridors of power

The way to change the situation passes through entrepreneurial endeavors:

In this short speech I have argued that the road to achieving political power and thereby societal change, passes through the achievement of economic power by means of entrepreneurial Endeavour. It is my belief that any attempt to start right away from the political accumulation of power, is doomed to failure as the outcome would be "Tokenism" without any real power behind it. However, "Tokenism" has its advantages by bringing women into the forefront of the political arena

The different approaches for advancing women in business and politics:

The USA has been the first nation to deal with this issue through the 1988 "Small Business Act" which gave women-owned businesses significant preferences such as better access to credit, priority in public tenders, etc. Israel has enacted a similar Law in 1994 statistics show that in the late 1990s 2/3 of all small business in the USA were women –owned. This is obviously far from reality. However, it ignited a very important process of access of women to all areas of trade and commerce, even non-traditional ones such as construction

The EU, on the other hand, has adopted a different approach, called "Mainstreaming". The philosophy behind this approach is that that checking each and every decision according to the criteria: "Does it contribute to the equality between men & women, or does it leave gender gaps as they are "?will actually be more effective than quotas and more conducive to empowering women

Only time will show which of the two approaches has been more effective in the advancement of women

Moral obligation

One of the outcomes of this approach is that women, who have actually made it in the business world thanks to their fellow women in the political arena, will subsequently feel a moral obligation to back the women politicians who paved their way initially. This will occur because these two groups actually share a common feminist agenda for education, health and family oriented issues.

In conclusion:

It is my firm belief that only by translating financial power and influence into political power, will women be able to share the leadership role in society which they deserve and be able to promote women-related agendas.

>> Read more about Women in Business & Politics, from Prof. Liora Katzenstein.