Women Seeking
Economic Equality

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New York (JTA) — Two
hundred women, most of
them professionals and lay
leaders in the Jewish com-
munal world, gathered last
week to study the economic
disadvantages faced by
American women and to
begin to determine how the
Jewish community should
respond to the problem.
Speakers at the Women's
Economic Summit, convened
jointly by the National Jew-
ish Community Relations
Advisory Council and the
American Jewish Congress
Commission on Women's
Equality, made it clear that
the economic problems with
which American women
grapple are many.
Some 35 other Jewish
organizations also sponsored
or endorsed the event.
Jewish women and the
Jewish community have a
role to play in addressing in-
equities that women face in
the workplace, said
speakers.
"We want to work through
the Jewish community to
address these issues in a
Jewish way, and these issues
also affect Jewish women,"
said Diana Aviv.
Aviv is outgoing associate
executive director of the Na-
tional Jewish Community
Relations Advisory Council
and will soon be working as
Washington representative
of the Council of Jewish
Federations.
The economic status of
American women is a con-
cern to the Jewish commun-
ity, as are myriad other do-
mestic issues, she said.
"Conditions in society af-
fect Jews who are directly
victims in a society which is
economically unstable. A
society which is econ-
omically unstable is much
more likely to be responsive
to demagogic influences
blaming Jews and blacks,"
she said.
"Jewish women as a con-
stituency have a major con-
cern" about economic ine-
quities, said Aviv.
In 1991, women earned
just 70 percent of the wages
earned by men, according to
the U.S. Department of
Labor.
And according to a report
from the National Academy
of Sciences, up to half of that
wage gap cannot be explain-
ed by legitimate factors like
differences in education or
experience.

Women earn less even
working in the same occupa-
tions as men, according to
the National Committee on
Pay Equity.
Further, the benefits most
often used by female, rather
than male, workers like ma-
ternity and family leave
often are not available.
When they are, they are
usually unpaid, said
speakers at the conference.
The way Jewish women
can impact these realities
about economic conditions
for women is to get involved
politically, said speakers.
"Economics and political
power are two sides of the
same coin," said Ann Lewis,

Jews are victims in
a society which is
economically
unstable.

chair of the AJCongress
Commission for Women's
Equality and former polit-
ical director of the Dem-
ocratic National Committee.
"It is the political process
which distributes money. If
women are not at that table,
our issues slide to the
bottom" of the list of
priorities, she said. Lobby-
ing elected officials is a key
way in which to effect
change, said Rabbi Lynne
Landsberg, associate direc-
tor of the Religious Action
Center of Reform
Judaism.

❑

JTA Names
New Publisher

New York (JTA) — Mark
Jonathan Joffe has been
named executive editor and
publisher of the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency.
For the past six years,
Joffe, 33, has served as
JTA's editor. In his new role,
he will have overall respon-
sibility for the agency's
business as well as editorial
operations.
Joffe replaces Mark Seal,
who resigned earlier this
month as the agency's ex-
ecutive vice president to
become associate executive
vice president of the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society.
JTA supplies many Jewish
weekly newspapers with
coverage of Jews around the
world. ❑