Summit 2014: Why Aren't There More Female Entreprenours / Dafna Mordechai

In Israel, only 4% of the CEO positions are held by women and only 16% of directors are women. In academia, females constitute 36% of the graduate science students but they only amount to 10% of the faculty. In the high-tech industry, women only account for 35% of the workforce. Despite Israel’s reputation as a “start-up nation”, only 9% of start-up entrepreneurs are female. We stand baffled in light of these figures, especially given the equal formal standing attributed to males and females, and the ongoing proactive effort to promote women in many fields. This invisible and elusive barrier preventing women’s growth and success is commonly known as the “Glass Ceiling” phenomenon. In this talk, we will demonstrate why the “glass ceiling” is far from being invisible. Quite to the contrary, it is very much present and unlike glass, shattering it is far from simple. Using knowledge and examples from the fields of psychology, sociology and neuroscience, we will show that this ceiling reflects processes, attitudes, behaviors and beliefs that are rooted deep in our cultural and sociological backbone. MP3