The Gender Index, an innovative tool developed by WIPS – The Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere, serves to evaluate gender inequality in Israel across a spectrum of fields over time. The 2015 Gender Index is based on the calculation of gender inequality in Israel in eleven key domains: education, the labor market, gendered segregation of professions, poverty, power, family status, time, violence against women, health, and gender inequality in the periphery and in Arab society in Israel.

The 2015 Gender Index contains several new elements: For the first time, the Index provides an estimate of the depth of gender inequality and enables a comparison between the different domains to identify the areas in which gender inequality is most severe. The 2015 Index also contains a new dimension—time, which presents the differences in how men and women divide their time. Several new indicators have been added, including employers’ differential benefits given to men and women employees, gendered segregation in fields of study in universities, and women’s and men’s sense of security in the public sphere.

The Gender Index’s contribution lies in its systematic examination of data in a variety of spheres over more than a decade, to provide an overall depiction of the state of gender inequality in Israel. Unlike other gender indexes, the Gender Index takes into account aspects of gender inequality that address issues of diversity and deep social structures of inequality—for example, Arab society, gendered segregation in the workforce, and violence against women. Furthermore, as a monitor of the status of women in Israel, it is a powerful tool for evaluating Israeli state policies and initiatives directed at increasing gender equality and promoting social justice.

The Gender Index in English can be downloaded in PDF form.