The Isreal newspaper Haaretz reports on the results of a survey conducted by Dr. Michal Friedman of the Gender Studies department of Hebrew University. See Survey: High-tech is a good place for working mothers (Ruth Sinai, Haaretz, March 11, 2004) for the full article. The goal of the survey was to report on the status of Israeli women in the high-tech field. A young employee base and job features such as flexible work hours and telecommuting make this an attractive study area, since it is believed they would "help break down the barriers that have prevented women from achieving parity with men in the workplace."

Among the statistics and facts about this population of women successfully balancing work and life: 

"When asked what they would do if faced with the choice of meeting with a foreign customer or attending an event at their child's kindergarten, scheduled for the same time, 71 percent said they would opt for the kindergarten event. Still, over 92 percent said they did their jobs well at work and most cited flexible work hours as a crucial factor in enabling their success."

Meeting with a foreign customer? While technologies like virtual presence can't eliminate the meeting, they can eliminate the travel time associated with getting to and from the meeting and make for lots of happier kindergarten kids!

8:23:03 AM    
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