The Gender Equity in Hiring Project

The GEiHP was created with the belief that reformulating hiring and employment processes are a key leverage point for Jewish organizations as they begin to address gender biases. In order for the change we seek to become embedded in our communal organizations and our individual actions, we must dig deeply into cultures of bias and build capacity to recognize and correct these biases as we build support systems to align hiring practices with our Jewish values of equality and fairness. The vast majority of employees in Jewish communal organizations are women, yet nearly all of the top positions continue to be filled by men. Until 2018, The Forward published a salary survey listing the names and salaries of those at the helm of these Jewish communal organizations. Just like every year previously, the data for 2017 indicates that a woman’s name doesn’t appear until number 29 on the list. And out of the top 56, only 9 are women. This needs to change. While the purpose of this data set is to look at the top tier of organizations, and our plan is to look at the larger scope of Jewish organizations, it is important to note the lack of women across the board as a data point. This problem is endemic to the field as a whole, and is not isolated to just these organizations. Again, it’s time for change.