8. Ruth Dayan

Ruth Dayan. Photo by Moshe Shai/Flash 90

Ruth Dayan is the ultimate Israeli matriarch, the founder of pioneering Israeli fashion house Maskit and a dedicated social activist.

Dayan, who was born in 1917, recognized the uniqueness and beauty of the traditional handicrafts of immigrant women in early-state Israel. She used these designs in her fashion house, providing employment to hundreds of workers in the periphery, mostly new immigrants.

She is also a social activist who has campaigned for new immigrants and Jewish-Arab coexistence.

Inspirational quote: “I think that the struggle for women’s equality needs to be waged not only by women but by men and women together.”