A recent report published by HR technology company Compete for Women's History Month says that representation and equal pay for women in Israel's technology industry has not progressed as much as some might think. According to the report, women are underrepresented in climbing the hierarchy, especially in Israel's technology industry, both in terms of their share of total income and in comparison to men, compared to many people think.
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Yael Greenberger.
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“Despite progress in diversity and inclusion efforts, women in technology still face barriers to achieving pay parity with men,” the report states.
According to the report, women make up 36% of all technical employees, but that percentage decreases significantly the higher you move up the corporate ladder. More than half of jobs defined as “support,” such as administrative assistants, data entry clerks, and customer service representatives, are held by women, and 54% are held by women. Her 38% in “professional” roles such as engineers, accountants and people analytics. 31% of managers, including team leaders, supervisors, and department managers. Only 25% of executive positions are held.
There are significant pay disparities across the board. At the professional level, which makes up the bulk of high-tech workers, the pay gap is 20%. Even at the support level, where more than half of the positions are held by women, there is a 7% pay gap. Even in roles such as product design, where women make up 65% of the roles, and management, where women make up 63% of the roles, there is a 3% pay gap. She has two exceptions where the pay gap favors women. A data analysis with a 3% pay gap and a safety analysis with a 2% pay gap.
The distribution of wages is also skewed, with women accounting for only 17% of earners in the highest percentile, but 55% in the lowest percentile.
“There are many programs in Israel whose main purpose and task is to help women enter the technology industry through coding and other programs. These are great for helping women enter the industry But it's not enough if there's still a gap. If they're still being paid less than their male counterparts, the problem hasn't been solved,” said Yael Greenberger, director of marketing and business development at Compete. Masu.
Representation is important, but it's not enough
As in other industries, pay disparities in the technology industry are often related to the disproportionate representation of women in leadership and senior management positions. According to the Compete report, women are significantly less likely than men to be promoted to management positions across all technology fields. Even in HR tech, the single sector that prides itself on gender equality, only 1 in 4.8 women hold a management position, compared to 1 in 2.45 men. In other words, men are almost twice as likely as women to be in management positions, with an equal number of women in the field.
“It's not just the number of women in the tech industry overall that matters; it's far more important than that women in senior roles and in research and development,” says Noa Gadot, CEO of Power in Diversity, which partnered with Compete on the report. says Mr. “If there is pay disparity at senior levels, how can we expect pay to be balanced for the rest of the organization?”
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Noah Gadot.
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Obviously, representation is important, but it's clearly not enough to tip the balance. Efforts that have focused solely on getting women into entry-level roles in the tech industry need to shift to helping women advance to senior and managerial roles and become founders themselves. Maybe.
“We have made progress in ensuring that men and women are paid equally, but we still have a long way to go. It's also a question of how companies view and value female employees and executives,” said Jeff Shaprio, a partner at Viola, another partner on the report. “Unconscious bias exists, especially in compensation decisions.”
When it comes to departmental teams, women make up the most women at 94% in Human Resources, 91% in General Administration, and 70% in Finance. The lowest percentages are in more technology-oriented departments, such as Cyber and Security at 22%, IT at 17%, and Systems Operations at 14%.
Disparities in representation and pay are particularly evident in deep tech. Women hold just 28% of hardware and robotics roles, 31% of cyber roles, and 35% of AI and ML roles. “Women encounter barriers when attempting to enter the deep tech field and are less likely to achieve higher salary percentiles,” the report states. This is partly because historically fewer women have pursued higher education in STEM-related fields, but that is changing.
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Jeff Shapiro.
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The report also analyzed disparities based on geography. Jerusalem has the highest percentage of women in technical positions, at 42%, compared to 36% in the center, 34% in the north, and 31% in the south. However, the wage gap in Jerusalem remains the same as in the center, at 22%, and higher than in the northern and southern regions. And most of these roles held by women are low-level or entry-based, with 63% of earners in the bottom percentile in Jerusalem being women.
No women at seed stage
Perhaps one of the report's most important conclusions is that there is a lack of female representation in seed-stage companies, with women occupying only 22% of roles. At this stage, she also has the largest pay gap at 26%, with only 9% of the highest earners being women. This means that there are far fewer women in key positions in the creation of technology companies, and that women are paid a fraction of what men are paid. The highest proportion of women is at Round B and C stage companies, at 33%, and the lowest pay gap is at Round D level, at 19%, but still significant.
“Women are not really included in the strategic foundations of future seed companies,” Greenberger said, adding that this inevitably affects large companies as well.
According to the report, “low representation of women in seed-stage funding and low salaries can deter women from working at these companies. The lack of representation is a red flag.”
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Simcha Koevali.
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This is partly due to the traditional route through which most startups are founded in Israel: graduates of military intelligence units, where significant networks are established. Despite advances in recent decades, the vaunted intelligence agency remains male-dominated, so it's no surprise that the pedigree of Israel's tech founders is similarly homogeneous.
In Israel, companies with more than 518 employees are required to report internal gender pay, but Gadot said closing the gap is simply good business sense, more than the ethically right thing to do. I say no. “Women who earn less than their male counterparts tend to be less motivated, invest less over time, and ultimately spend less time with the company. Additionally, this issue can affect your reputation. Do the smart thing and ask yourself the hard questions: Why does the problem exist and how can we best solve it?'' says Gadot.
“Closing the gender pay gap is not just a matter of fairness and compliance,” echoed Simcha Koevaly, corporate partner at Mater Law Firm, another partner on the report. Masu. “Gender equality is both a strategic advantage and a moral imperative, so companies that prioritize equal pay not only attract more diverse talent, but also enhance their reputation and long-term success.”
Especially today, Greenberger says, Israeli technology companies no longer have many excuses to avoid addressing these issues. “No pay gap should be the policy of all companies, and data should be used to address the gender pay gap in the same way that data is used to address security and compliance. Yes, if you have the tools to make sure your 10-employee company is compliant with security, you should be able to do the same with gender pay.”
