This Week

In Pursuit Of. Parity

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR
Special to the Jewish News

p

envy Blumenstein had never really
known what it was like to be in a minori-
ty before she ventured out into service
within the general Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit community.
She'd entered volunteer life by founding, and
later leading, a local chapter of American ORT
(Organization for Educational Resources and
Technological Training). After that, she began her
leadership ascent at Federation by joining the
Women's Campaign and Education Department,
working up to chair its annual fund-raising cam-
paign and later becoming that department's presi-
dent. The Bloomfield Hills resident with all that
experience was a female leader in overwhelmingly
.
female organizations.
When Blumenstein began to volunteer on
committees in the larger Federation community,
she became aware of how few women were serv-
ing with her.
"In a way, we in the Women's Department were
a microcosm of the Federation," says Blumenstein,
now the Detroit Federation's first female president.
"Outside of that environment, there were only men
or almost all men. I would say I had less awareness
of what went on outside the Women's Department.
"That is not to say that there weren't women.
There were a number of women with strength and
vision — Tillie Brandwine, Frieda Stollman, Edythe
Jackier, Dulcie Rosenfeld and others. They moved
from one place to another and assumed vice presi-
dencies. They served their time, but were never
considered as a potential president," Blumenstein
says. "You didn't think about parity back then. In
the workplace, women were secretaries and the men
were the vice presidents and presidents. It was the
same on the boards."
This is a story that has been repeated for decades
since women's liberation became old news, and still
it continues.
According to a
study released in 1997
by Wyan, a New York
Jewish women's organi-
zation, women made
up more than half of
the population and
contributed a signifi-
cant chunk of the vol-
unteer hours and money, but made up less than 25
percent of the boards of Jewish communal groups.
Twelve percent of these groups had a woman in the
top lay leadership position, while 20 of the groups
never had had a woman president.
Furthermore, professional women in communal
service groups fared worse. Of the top 17 federa-
tions in the United States, the study showed none
employed a woman in the top job, even though
most federation employees are women.
"These were astounding facts," says Shifra
Bronznick, an adviser on the initial study and a
partner in Bronznick Jacoby, a New York City
change-management company for non-profit orga-
nizations.

The Leadership Dante

Nationally and locally,

women are beginning to

break through to top Jewish

communal positions.

2/18
2000

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