AFIK IN ACADEMIA
Israeli Women Professors Forum
Afik in Academia is a female professors’ non-profit forum, founded in 2021. It is aimed at encouraging equality for female university researchers and their roles in senior management positions in Israeli universities.
Recent data on the gender distribution of faculty staff in Israeli universities indicate that despite different initiatives taken, including institutional ones, the proportion of women in senior and key positions, has remained extremely low even in comparison to the EU.
In order to bring about change, the forum that unites past and present university presidential advisors for gender equality, led by Professor Rachel Erhard of Tel-Aviv University, has reached a conclusion that a collective female researchers leadership is essential to overcome the “stubborn gender gap” while using persistence, cooperation and a systematic plan. In support of this vision, a representative organization has been established, namely Afik in Academia.
Our Strategy for change:
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Increasing awareness of gender gaps among decision and policy university makers.
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Assimilating organizational culture and practices in the spirit of the organization’s mission.
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Building female leadership to represent female researchers in universities in terms of policy formulation, resources, and budget allocation at the national level.
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Educating, training, and empowering future female researchers in Israeli universities so that more doctoral graduates will proceed to postdoctoral fellowships at reputable universities abroad.
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Promoting female representation in the National Academy of Sciences in accordance with their proportion in the population of female professors at Israeli universities.
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Achieving rate equality of participation for female researchers in public-state-national committees.
