TAU held a conference this week to promote women’s equality through learning and community building

Women’s equality benefits everyone. At Tel Aviv University, this understanding drives action. This week, TAU held a conference for its community to learn about women’s studies research and the practical steps that still must be taken to advance gender equality. Over 200 participants heard from academic and on-the-ground experts in fields from humanities to medicine. The conference was run in partnership with The National Council of Jewish Women, whose support has enabled the TAU’s Women and Gender Studies Program to grow and develop for over two decades. Established in 2001 at The Shirley and Leslie Porter School of Cultural Studies, at the Entin Faculty of Humanities, it was the first such program in Israel. 

Highlighting the necessity of this topic, the conference began with remarks from University leadership including President Prof. Ariel Porat, second female Rector Prof. Noga Kronfeld-Schor, Vice President of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Prof. Neta Ziv, Gender and Law Prof. Daphna Hacker, and Board of Governors Chairwoman Dafna Meitar-Nechmad.  

Ms. Meitar-Nechmad: “At Tel Aviv University, we are proud to have a woman as rector, and women as vice presidents and deans. But women are still not represented equally in centers of power and decision-making circles. In academia, this is more than a matter of justice–it also affects the quality of knowledge. When perspectives are missing, the knowledge we produce is also partial. Equality, like any profound change, is the result of choices. TAU’s choices show how academia can shape reality: female alumni make up more than half of Globes’ 2025 List of Influential Women and fill key positions across fields. We’re here today to learn where our investments are still needed to continue working toward a more equitable, advanced society whether in industry, medicine, academia, policymaking, and beyond.” 

Prof. Neta Ziv: “I’m so pleased to say that registration for this event was quite high and encompassed people from all over campus: students, faculty, associate faculty, and administrative staff—both women and men. The feminist worldview is one from which all people can learn and benefit, and we can see that our Tel Aviv University community stands behind that worldview. Together, I am confident that we will position Tel Aviv University as a leader in research, teaching, activism and the growth of feminist leadership.” 

Second female Rector of TAU, Prof. Noga Kronfeld-Schor, spoke about the importance of dispelling implicit bias for the next generation of women. (Photo: Shauli Landner)

What We Learned 

Participants were treated to many fascinating speakers and panelists, from in and out of the University. The first set of speakers focused on women and the world of work. Research was presented on the many reasons it is more difficult for women to get ahead financially and in their careers, including: 

• Women present themselves differently from men in online profiles and on resumes. For example, men are much more likely to claim a skill in which they are only partially proficient, meaning recruiters and resume-checking AI is more likely to find male candidates for any given role. Similarly, women may use slightly different language from men which AI is not trained to look for, representing one of many examples of how sexism affects even technology and algorithms. (Prof. Neta Rabin)  

• Research found that when searching for jobs, men are more likely than women to look further from home and even more willing to move for a job. This widens the net men can cast to further their careers, while women are often expected to stay close to home in order to take care of children and domestic tasks—regardless of how good they are at their jobs. (Prof. Oren Danieli)  

• Similarly, men are more likely to look for new jobs and switch jobs—and in 2026, nearly the only way to get a meaningful pay raise is to find a new role at a different organization. This means men are able to keep earning more as they move from job to job, while women must prioritize stability and so usually stay in the same role for much longer without any financial advancement. (PhD candidate Noa Barnir) 

Participants also heard from medical experts on gendered topics such as: 

• Some, even many, diseases present differently in men and women—but because research tends to focus on treatment of men as the “default human”, women and other minorities suffer worse health outcomes. For example, Prof. Illana Gozes presented on Alzheimer’s: “Women’s and men’s brains are different. So brain diseases are gendered diseases.” This is yet another gender gap: In the US, twice as many women suffer from Alzheimer’s as men. Prof. Gozes’s team found that one contributing factor is a difference in how a protective protein presents in women’s brains, and used that discovery to advance women-specific treatments which improved focus and visual memory.  

• Trauma from abuse disproportionately affects women, but can affect all people. Clinical psychologist Prof. Yael Lahav found in her practice that abuse survivors hit a unique roadblock: they often denied to themselves how severe their trauma was, making recovery even more difficult. Prof. Lahav and her research team delved into this phenomenon and collected evidence that will make for more effective, targeted trauma treatment. 

The conference featured many more impactful presentations, including on women’s history, gender diversity, and the unique challenges faced by women in conflict zones and authoritarian societies.  

Participants also heard from the delightful founder of the TAU Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Prof. Hannah Naveh. She told the long saga of the Program’s humble roots as a women’s forum running only on the determination of driven female faculty with not so much as a room to meet in, to its funding by NCJW and eventual growth into a full academic degree program with nearly 1,000 alumni.  (Photos: Shauli Landner)