Israeli kibbutzim promote equality but have fewer women than men in leadership positions. A new initiative aims to promote women in leadership positions, in an "Academy for Future CEOs".

Israel’s kibbutzim have always been at the forefront of equality between men and women: since their establishment, women worked the land, took part in leadership, and were generally viewed to be just as capable as their male counterparts.

And yet, most of the leadership positions in kibbutz organizations and industries are still filled by men.

This realization is what pushed the Kibbutz Movement, the Kibbutz Industry Association, and Supersonas, an organization dedicated to promoting women to leadership positions, to establish a course called “The Academy for future CEOs.”

It brings together women from top jobs in the kibbutz community to give them useful tools, a supportive environment, and networking opportunities.

“The initiative’s ultimate goal is to allow women to reach key positions and influence the kibbutz movement and kibbutz industries, and to allow their integration into key positions in Israeli society at large,” explains Hilit Ben Zvi, one of the course’s organizers and the director of the Kibbutz Movement’s advancement of women and gender division.

“We have a wide range of participants from the fields of kibbutz industry and community management who want to reach the next stage or are looking for this companionship,” she adds. Participants, she notes, include accountants, CFOs, social workers, and HR personnel, all on the management level.

The initiative just completed its second course, from which 22 women graduated. The previous one included 24 participants, and there’s interest in upcoming ones, Ben Zvi says.