CLOSE-UP
Closing
the Gender Gap
JAMES D. BESSER and IRA RIFKIN
VW
hen Baltimore's Shosha-
na Cardin became the
first female to head the
Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish
Organizations late last year, Jewish women
around the country rejoiced in the
knowledge that her election had defied the
conventional wisdom that only a man could
win the coveted post.
But despite Mrs. Cardin's pioneering
efforts, the general perception is that
gender discrimination — some of it inten-
tional, some of it de facto — remains a
subtle fact of American Jewish communal
life at the highest national level, affecting
both career professionals and lay (vol-
unteer) leaders alike.
Moreover, those interviewed said, this
bias exists even within agencies that pro-
fess strong public stands in support of
equal opportunities for women.
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The degree of frustration this stirs in
women who believe their opportunities
for advancement are limited by their
gender is palpable.
"We expect more from the Jewish com-
munity," said one woman who works for a
major multi-issue Jewish organization.
"(Jewish groups are) supposed to do
better."
But they haven't, she maintained, leav-
ing her with a sense akin to being
"betrayed by your family."
In 1972, Jacqueline Levine, then presi-
dent of the Women's Division of the
American Jewish Congress, challenged
male Jewish officials to open their organ-
izations to women at "higher levels of
decision- and policy-making."
Ms. Levine's charge, delivered to the
Council of Jewish Federations CJF Gen-
eral Assembly, came against the
backdrop of the feminist movement then
stirring the larger society.
In the nearly two decades that have
since passed, Jewish women, like women
elsewhere in the society, have achieved
some gains. A new study of Jewish corn-
munal groups done for the American Jew-
ish Committee's Institute of Human Re-
lations noted that "younger women are
Art by Barry Fitzgerald
24
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1991
James D. Besser is Washington
correspondent; Ira Rifkin is assistant
editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times.