November Edition 2020

8 “It is definitely worth noting that the Israeli Supreme Court has already had three female presidents, all of whom are inspiring,” sai d Dr. Tzipi Iser Itsiq, the Director of the Environmental Protection, Cleantech and Clean Energy Department at law firm, Lipa Meir & Co. “During the tenure of the first woman - Judge Dorit Beinisch, she gave her opinion on discrimination against women in the workplace. In the case of Orit Goren v. Home Center , Beinisch ruled that the employee had a cause of action under the Equal Pay Law and the Equal Opportunity Law, since her salary was 35% lower than the salary of a man who performed the same work for the same employer. Beinisch also gained recognition from environmental protection organizations thanks to her ruling to protect the public right at beaches and prevent private construction on beaches – which was the ruling in the Hof Hacarmel case,” she adds. While these women judges were admired at the upper echelons of the Israeli judicial system, there is a different story elsewhere. “In private practice, female representation at the senior managing partner level used to be better than it is now. It may be accidentally, but in the past there were in several big law firms a few women in senior positions - inter alia, two women at Meitar, one at S. Horowitz, and there have been women heading the banks here but that is not the case right now,” sa id Michal Arlosoroff, Executive Vice President and General Legal Counsel at ADAMA, the Ashdod- headquartered public agribusiness company. In the wider business landscape, there is very much some way to g o. Tamar Krongrad, H ead of the Commercial Cross-Border Practice Group at Tadmor Levy & Co., told us: "In 2019, Credit Suisse published its Gender 3000 report, surveying gender diversity within the governance and executive leadership teams of over 3,000 companies, spanning 30,000 executive positions across 56 countries. Israel performed well on some parameters of gender equality but falls below the average on others.” Three female presidents, all of whom are inspiring