More than 100 women members of the exchange took part in a first-ever conference aimed at advancing the status of female members of the bourse. IDE President Yair Sahar called on the women to join a Steering Committee that will propose courses of action.
“This conference will go down as a milestone in the history of the diamond bourse,” said Sahar, who initiated the meeting that was held to hear the views of women and their work experience and to establish a forum that will suggest ways forward.Sahar dedicated his initial short remarks to his mother who was forced overnight, due to the illness of his father, from a housewife raising four children to taking on the burden of being the main breadwinner.
The female bourse members who attended the conference heard speeches by De Beers’ senior vice-president Varda Shine, and also from the head of the Authority for the Advancement of Women in Israel – Vered Peer Swaid and the diamantaires Orit Zikri and Nurit Rotman.
The meeting was organized by bourse members Miriam Reuven, the exchange’s deputy general manager Irit Ben-Shachar and her assistant Hila Cohen Yashar. The event was moderated by the exchange’s general manager, Moti Besser.
Sahar said: “There are amazing women at the exchange doing business worth millions of dollars but they are still not involved in public service. I call on all the female members to take part in public service because there is no reason for their wonderful potential and abilities not to lead to a lady becoming bourse president or deputy.”
When he introduced the first speaker, he told participants about a 22-year-old woman who came to check his business when he was starting out as a diamantaire. That woman – Varda Shine – broke through the glass ceiling and is today a De Beers senior vice-president.
Shine said that when she began working in the diamond industry 30 years ago it was dominated by men. Today, though, women occupy leading positions and bring their uniqueness to the industry as well as their ability to look differently at the business world. “There is no reason to try and act like men. Men are better at being men than we are. We need to be different,” she said, as she encouraged women to set out their paths and make their aims a reality.
The head of the Authority for the Advancement of Women in Israel – Vered Peer Swaid – the daughter of a diamantaire from Netanya – spoke about the issues that block women from getting ahead, and that despite 50% of students completing a doctorate being women, just 11% are professors. She also spoke about the salary gaps between men and women in the public sector and said that the differential had not closed over the years.
“At school, they teach us important things but not about relationships and parenting. We fall victim to romance without understanding a thing about planning a career and equality,” she said, ending her comments by calling all women to do their part in bringing about change in the modern era.
She agreed to Moti Besser’s request that she accompany the process of advancing women at the diamond exchange.
Meanwhile, Orit Zikri said that when the market is declining, women are the first to suffer from the impact since many diamantaires prefer in those situations to give goods for sale to male brokers rather than females, believing that women are the second breadwinners in their families. She called on her counterparts not to believe in the external factors that restrain them. “Dear friends – let us release ourselves from fear and head forward.”
Diamantaire Nurit Rotman, who writes a column in the Yahalom magazine, suggested that women become active and search for ways to advance themselves professionally. “Nobody advances if they just sit in the corner of the room and no-one gets ahead if they think they don’t deserve it.”
Advancement of women aims to empower them not lead to conflict. She suggested to all the women in attendance to take part in the US & International Diamond Week in August. “Let’s take the initiative and not sit in the doorway or in a corner,” she said.
In conclusion, Moti besser invited the women to join a Steering Committee that will debate courses of action for the advancement of women at the exchange.
