Cabinet Approves Plan to Instill Gender Awareness; Name of the Authority for
the Advancement of the Status of Women will be Changed to the Authority for
the Advancement of Gender Equality
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

The Cabinet, at its weekly meeting today (Sunday, 14 December 2014),
approved a national plan to advance gender equality and instill gender
awareness in the work of government ministries in order to promote equality
between men and women in Israel.

According to the decision, the name of the Authority for the Advancement of
the Status of Women will be changed to the Authority for the Advancement of
Gender Equality, and its organizational structure will be changed
accordingly. The Authority will work to advance equality between men and
women in several areas: In the planning and policy sphere, the Authority
will lead processes for setting policy on gender equality in the public and
private sectors, promote relevant legislation, and initiate
inter-ministerial projects in conjunction with academia and civil society.
In the training, guidance and gender awareness information sphere, the
Authority will work toward organizational culture and language so as to
instill gender awareness, make information about itself more accessible to
the public, oversee international ties in the field and raise awareness in
order to prevent sexual harassment. In the sphere on advancing equal
representation, preventing discrimination and strengthening women, the
Authority will work to advance equal representation for women in all aspects
of life and to prevent any kind of discrimination or segregation in public
life, including carrying out various activities to strengthen women and deal
with women in various population groups.

Also according to the decision, instilling gender awareness will be carried
out in the 2015 working plans. Ministers will, on International Women's day,
present annual reports on the advancement of gender equality in their
ministries. In order to assist the various ministries, the Authority will
prepare a training plan on instilling gender equality to the ministry
director generals and will place advisers and experts at their disposal.

It was also decided that the Authority, in conjunction with the Prime
Minister's Office socio-economic staff, will establish an inter-ministerial
team to formulate a comprehensive action plan on promoting gender equality.
The team will deal with instilling gender awareness in decision-making;
giving women equal opportunities in all aspects of life, such as employment,
the economy, education, health and social welfare; strengthening personal
security for women and protecting them from all types of violence; and
promoting representation for women from various population groups in the
public and private sectors. The team, led by Authority Director Vered Swid
and composed of ministry director generals, will submit a five year plan
including goals, tools for its implementation and timetables.

Authority for the Advancement of Gender Equality Director Swid said, "The
Government has done much in this field and it is possible to see the
results. This is an additional achievement in the gender revolution. The
decision that was approved today will allow us to continue advancing gender
equality in both the intermediate and long terms. Thus we will be able to
implement the UN decision on integrating women in decision-making and
instilling gender equality in all aspects of life and on representing women
from various population groups in the public and private sectors. In the
future, training on instilling gender awareness will be given to ministry
director generals, agency heads and senior division managers in government
ministries."
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