Adva Center

15/04/2026

Why Is Women’s Pay Lower Than Men’s?
New Infographic Presentation:
https://adva.org/en/gender-gaps-2025-infographics

Although women in Israel are participating in the labor market in growing numbers, and many are highly educated and hold central roles in the economy, pay gaps remain high and persistent. The gap in average monthly pay between women and men has remained stable over the past decade, standing at 34% in 2022. The gap in average hourly pay has widened in recent years, rising from 14.8% in 2012 to 21% in 2022.

The infographic presentation is based on a study on gender pay gaps in Israel by Dr. Alina Rozenfeld of the Adva Center in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Israel

13/04/2026

The October war of 2023 led to a sharp increase in the need for mental health services on the part of the general population and especially for specific groups within it, among them persons injured by the Hammas attack or dislocated as a result of that attack and the subsequent war, families whose homes were damaged from rocket fire and soldiers suffering from post-trauma. The widespread distress occurred at a time when Israel’s public mental health services had been suffering for years from a chronic shortage of personnel, unfilled positions and, as a result, the general inaccessability of public mental health services.

A new study by Adv. Noga Dagan-Buzaglo:
https://adva.org/en/mazor-nefesh/

08/12/2025

Israel’s gender pay gap has remained among the widest in the developed world, according to a new report.

Read about our new report in The Times of Israel >>

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06/11/2025

A Letter from Barbara Swirski, Founder of the Adva Center -

At a shindig organized by the Adva Center for the 80th birthday of an Adva Center co-founder (yours truly) a few years ago, Professor Shoshana Madmoni, who in the early 1990s helped to develop Adva, a new organization on the Israeli non-profit scene, presented me with a framed copy of the first brochure of lectures and workshops offered by Adva to high schools, colleges, central and local governmental bodies and non-profit organizations. These events emphasized equality between Israel’s social groups.

Some 25 years later, Adva is still working for greater equality, through research, advocacy, and yes, outreach events for similar, as well as different publics.

In the first six months of 2025, these outreach events centered mainly on gender mainstreaming public policy making and budgeting, poverty and inequality in various areas of life and in different parts of the country, and the design and implementation of the national budget.

Regarding gender mainstreaming, it was the Adva Center that brought and taught the theory and practice to the country -- from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the U.S. and Australia – adapting it to local needs and conditions.

In recent months, Adva was to be found spreading the good word in three Arab localities: Tur’an, Shfaram and Beit Jann. To take one example, Tur’an is a low-income village of 15,000 residents, 80% of whom are Muslim and 20% Christian, located in the lower Galilee, on the road to Tiberias. The Adva event, implemented in cooperation with the Tur’an local authority and the non-profit organizations Itach-Maaki and Shatil, was attended by senior local officials; its purpose was to encourage gender mainstreaming in the work of the local government of Tur’an.

The study day featured Dr. Yael Hasson, executive director of Adva Center and an expert on gender issues, as the lead speaker. The response to the event was overwhelmingly positive, and one of the issues discussed was how to answer women’s need for public transportation.

And how can I not mention the infamous October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. And then the infamous Israel-Hamas war, which most Israelis hope is really, really over.

After which hopefully, despite all odds, equality within Israeli society can once again take front and center.

Best wishes,
Barbara Swirski

09/09/2025

We are honored to share that the Adva Center has been selected as one of the Hadassah Foundation’s 2025 Core Israel Grantees.

Through this three-year Core Grant, generously awarded by the Hadassah Foundation, we will strengthen our Core Gender Program, focusing on innovative research and infrastructure support for women’s and feminist organizations, policy advocacy at governmental and municipal levels, and public education and community engagement.

We are deeply grateful for this longstanding partnership and proud to join other inspiring organizations supported by the Foundation that are working toward gender equality and social justice in Israel.

Learn more about the Hadassah Foundation’s Core Israel grantees here: https://hadassahfoundation.org/grantmaking/grantee-organizations/

Explore Adva Center’s Core Gender Program: https://adva.org/en/category/research-fields/gender/