Jerusalem Municipality Sued for Gender Discrimination

The Jerusalem municipality is being accused of gender discrimination in the work place. Two long-term female employees filed a lawsuit against the city government last week, for unexplained pay discrepancies between male and female employees.

This is the first lawsuit of its kind, according to Israeli news daily Ynet, and was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor against Jerusalem city hall.

The suit demands the municipality make equal the wages of two women to two men in the same department. All four workers do the similar human resources work, have the same level of seniority (more than 15 years), but the men receive significantly higher salaries. The suit, which was submitted against the municipality by Attorney Eyna David-Sultanovitch, charges that the wage gap constitutes gender discrimination, according to Ynet.

After learning that their wages were lower by 19%, that their vehicle allowance was lower and that they received fewer bonuses in comparison to their male counterparts, the women attempted to set right the various discrepancies themselves.

They contacted city hall and after receiving no reasonable explanation for the wage difference, they then approached the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission.

The Commission told Ynet that within Israel, a man with 8 years of education earned up to 20% more than a woman with 12 years of education, and that women were often required to handle the same amount or more work.

"This is an important step in the process being led by the Commission to ensure equal opportunities at work and reduce wage gaps between men and women in Israel," said Attorne Ziona Koenig-Yair from the Commission. "

The Israel Women’s Network (IWN) published a 50-page report earlier this year revealing that the status of women in the country has changed little over the past decade, despite the fact that more women than ever before are achieving higher levels of education.

IWN’s research found that the average monthly salary for men is far higher than for women in all sectors of the job market, with women making only 64% of what men take home and in the civil service, even though some 65% of those employed by government are women, there is an overwhelming lack of females in higher positions of authority, reported the Jerusalem Post.

“Some groups of women in Israel are hurt twofold, both because they are women and because they are affiliated with a minority group, or due to a particular life circumstance,” said Yahel Ash Kurlander, author of the IWN report. “Significant examples include Arab women, refugee women and women in prostitution. Arab women suffer from structural discrimination because of their sex and their national affiliation,” she said.

The Jerusalem Municipality has issued a response to the lawsuit saying, "City hall has given the Commission all the information it has about employees' wages, and a meeting has been scheduled where the wage differences, which have nothing to do with the employees' gender, will be explained."

Speaking about the Israel Women’s Network report, Nurit Tsur, IWN’s director, told the Jerusalem Post, “This report shows that discrimination against women still exists in many areas of Israeli society, presenting a barrier to women’s success and their moving forward in their work, their private life and their family.”