Gender Gap
Continued from Page 26
The study, conducted by
Barry Kosmin, director of
the North American Jewish
Data Bank, surveyed 92 men
and women from 92 of 187
Jewish federations nation-
wide. It was updated in 1986
and tracked women's leader-
ship from 1975 to 1979.
Mr. Kosmin's study also
charted the percentage of
women as board members
and officers, as well as the
percentage of women on fed-
eration committees. The
study found that women in
1986 were poorly repre-
sented in the areas of fi-
nance and endowments.
About 15 percent and 18
percent respectively of those
committee members were
women. However, com-
mittees such as social plann-
ing and community relations
were almost 40 percent
female.
Mr. Kosmin, director of
research for the Council for
Jewish Federations in New
York, said some respondents
felt the "old boys" network
was the chief hindrance
while others thought women
themselves failed to seek out
top leadership positions. An-
other reason for this
phenomenon, he said, was
that federations in smaller
cities showed greater atten-
tion to womens' roles.
"The smaller the commun-
ity the greater the likelihood
that women will be incor-
porated into the leadership
level of the federation," he
said. "Women in big cities,
like Detroit, tend to have to
struggle through tougher
hierarchical barriers."
Mrs. Passon disagreed.
"Detroit may rank among
the 16 or 17 large federa-
tions, but its structure is
still very welcoming and
very inclusive."
When Mrs. Passon showed
her findings in 1987 to Mar-
ty Kraar and Michael Berke,
then JWF executive vice
28
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 1991
president and executive di-
rector, they agreed that
something needed to be
done.
"I simply believe that we
will never be as good as we
can be unless we utilize wo-
men properly," she told
them at the time. "We need
to look for women who make
their wishes known and
have the ability to motivate
and understand how the
Jewish community and Fed-
eration operates."
"The Federation envi-
ronment is not hostile to
this," said Charlotte Dubin,
director of communications.
"Society as a whole is chang-
ing. Men and women for the
first time in decades are
working side by side in the
work place and in Federa-
tion."
Women continue to be in-
corporated into the Federa-
tion's executive staff, accor-
ding to Executive Director
Berke.
"Three of the seven mem-
bers on our executive staff
are women," he said. "More
and more women are in-
volved in business and their
access to the community
becomes different as they
become part of the business
and professional structure in
our community."
"Every year more women
are having more profound
access to the system and are
making their mark as visi-
ble leaders of the commun-
ity. This doesn't mean we
don't have a ways to go, but
it's definitely getting
better."
Mr. Berke said he doesn't
base his criteria on percen-
tages.
"For the first time, I'm
seeing a real graying of
gender. People are not
necessarily looking for the
best man or woman; they're
looking for the best person
with the highest qualifica-
tions for the job." ❑
counted for 15.3 percent of all federation
financial and endowment committee
posts. By way of comparison, they ac-
counted for 49.1 percent of the social ser-
vice committee posts, and 51.7 of the ag-
ing committee positions.
"The male lay leadership and staff often
fear that the women will take over," Mr.
Kosmin wrote. "They perceive . . . women
as having more time, more commitment
and more focus than the traditional male
leader. (Women) challenge the tradition
whereby the term 'leader' is used in such
circles as a synonym for large donor."
This last factor looms large in the fight
by women for equality in American Jew-
ish communal circles.
Many organizations — particularly fed-
erations and various pro-Israel groups —
stress giving as the bottom line of vol-
unteer leadership. Bluntly speaking, how
much you give determines how high you
rise in an organization's lay hierarchy.
That means it can be very expensive to
become a top lay leader.
By tradition, volunteer leaders tend to
cover their own costs for missions to
Israel and the Soviet Union. They also
cover their expenses for attending fre-
quent national and regional meetings.
The result is yet another built-in
obstacle to women seeking top lay leader-
ship positions, since, in general, women
are less able to marshal on their own the
large sums often required of top lay
leaders.
"The money issue is an important one,"
said Ms. Levine. "The Jewish community
continues to base much of its activism on
money giving and money securing. We
still often promote leaders for those abili-
ties.
"But women are learning. We're fin-
ding out that even if we can't give per-
sonally, we can still raise the funds from
others. We're still at a disadvantage —
but as money gets tighter for Jewish
organizations, we may find that our abil-
ity to get others to contribute may be just
as important as the personal giving that
the young leadership groups depend on."
All-Women Groups
The continued frustration that women
feel in the male-dominated Jewish com-
munal world is prompting many to turn
again to single-sex organizations —
groups like the National Council of Jew-
ish Women (NCJW), B'nai B'rith Women
and Hadassah.
Ironically, such agencies began as ad-
juncts to organizations that were tightly
controlled by men.
"There's no question we've benefited
from the frustration many women feel in
the other Jewish organizations," said
Sammie Moshenberg, NCJW's Washing-
ton director. "Many women would rather
spend their energy in an organization
fighting for issues rather than fighting
for a chance to express their opinions. So
they turn to groups like NCJW, where
they have a real chance to participate."
C
The growing clout of these all-women
organizations was one reason behind last
year's tussle between B'nai B'rith Inter-
national and B'nai B'rith Women, which
was a reflection of the growing unwill-
ingness of women to accept an
"auxiliary" role in the Jewish world —
and of the fact that women are an increas-
ingly vital economic aspect of Jewish
organizational life.
After a long, highly public battle, B'nai
B'rith International granted its women's
affiliate most of the independence it
sought.
One other interesting phenomenon has
taken place in recent years in relation to
women on the American Jewish scene.
Domestic issues like abortion and child
care, once the exclusive province of all-
women organizations, are taking on new
importance with the men who have tradi-
tionally dominated the Jewish hierarchy.
"The issues that were once taken as
women's issues are now being regarded as
community issues," said Elaine Binder,
executive director of B'nai B'rith Women.
"With the economic changes and the
changes in the way people work, issues
like family and medical leave and child
care are now important to both men and
women." While this may lead to addi-
tional status and an expanded role for
women, there is also a fear among many
female Jewish leaders that men will try
to usurp these issues as their own, leav-
ing women on the outside once again.
"We saw this with child care," said one
angry Jewish female activist. "A few
years ago, we'd go to coalition meetings
and it was all women. It was the women
who did all the spade work. Then, sudden-
ly, when it became a sexy issue, the big-
time male leadership stepped in and
claimed it as their own.
"And who did the media turn to when
they wanted someone to comment on the
issue?" she said. "To the men, of
course." ❑
(