I was sent this article by a fellow Israeli working woman:
Israeli working women: Know your rights
Israel is a completely different ball game when it comes to employee privacy, workers’ rights and being a woman in all that. You can sit at a job interview and get asked, “Are you planning on getting pregnant anytime soon?” and it’s culturally acceptable.
Apparently, it’s not legally acceptable anymore:
“During job interviews, young women are still likely to be asked the embarrassing question: “Are you planning to get pregnant?” Yet there were amendments to the Employment of Women Law in the past year and a half that work in women’s favor, which all working women should know about.”
Womens of Israel! Know your rights! The issues will come up – whether it’s about marriage, pregnancy, breast feeding, kid care. Be aware of the laws and the system in place to protect you before you get there.
Here are some of the amendments in place (courtesy of Haaretz):
- A woman who misses work to breast-feed her baby, or due to a miscarriage, cannot be fired for 60 days after her return to work.
- A father’s unpaid paternity leave can be instead of his wife’s unpaid leave.
However, is it true, as some would argue, that “every amendment that benefits working women deters employers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, from hiring” them?
On the other hand, a hi tech CEO had this to say to negate that:
“Women, at least in high-tech are keenly aware of their rights. They tend to be more loyal to an organization than men. I will never forget [this loyalty] at the height of the high-tech bubble, 10 years ago, when not a single woman left us. If there are amendments to the law – this is natural and proper.”
Well, either way, as long as their are laws and amendments in place, it’s best for us to know about them so we can play by the rules out there.
Whadya got: