Country's 1st equal opportunities employment commissioner gears up to take on discrimination in society.
By RUTH EGLASHTziona Koenig-Yair 224.88 (photo credit: Esteban Alterman )
I begin to get a little concerned that I might be in the wrong place when no one I ask seems to know who or where the offices of Israel's recently appointed and first Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) are located.
"It's on the first floor," says one security guard, when I finally pass through all the checks and am given approval to enter the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry.
"No, it's the second floor," corrects another guard, handing me back my ID card.
It seems that first officer is right, after a quick call to the commissioner herself, Tziona Koenig-Yair, leaves me taking the elevator up to the first floor and - despite the lack of signs for the commissioner's office - I am finally outside her inconspicuous wooden door.
"On the first day I arrived here, there was not even a desk, a computer, a printer or a telephone," laughs Koenig-Yair, a lawyer and former executive director of the Israel Women's Network (IWN), who was appointed less than eight months ago.
"They even had to build this wall behind me so that I would have a private office," she says, turning off her cellphone and redirecting the landline calls to her assistant.
"Then no one will disturb us," she confides.
Despite the initial lack of resources, Koenig-Yair has been working fervently to build a department that will eventually become the main address for people to report discriminatory work practices, as well as the impetus behind eliminating such behavior and creating equality in society in general.
"Generating work has not been a problem at all," quips the 38-year-old mother of three, who immigrated from the US as an 11-year-old. "Since our complaints hot line was launched in July, we've already had more than 100 complaints and are currently preparing three of the cases for litigation.
"Although there have been no immediate victories, we are definitely working in the right direction," she says.
WITH PROGRESS clearly being made in positioning the EEOC, Koenig-Yair is under no illusion of the distance still left to go before the country and its employers fully understand and embrace equality for all in the workplace.
Figures published by the IWN in 2006 noted that close to 1,500 women felt they had been subjected to discrimination in the workplace, for reasons ranging from not being promoted because they were women to being fired because they were pregnant or undergoing fertility treatment.
In addition, a report last year by Equality Commission for People with Disabilities showed that nearly 70 percent of the disabled earned less than minimum wage, compared to 19% in the non-disabled sector, and only 13% earned more than NIS 7,000 a month, the average salary.
Koenig-Yair also points to severe discrimination based on ethnic identity, nationality, religious observance and even age. However, she adds, there has not been too much research in this area, so she does not have the statistics to prove it.
"We've heard of people older than 50 not being promoted or invested in like younger people are," she says, adding that there is also much racism against Arabs, who are not hired purely because of their ethnic identity.
"One of the calls to our hot line was from a Russian immigrant who believed the reason he'd been turned down from several jobs was because he was not Israeli born," recalls Koenig-Yair. "Another was from a young, observant man who claimed not to have been hired for a job as a security guard because he was not prepared to work on Shabbat."
"Many people don't realize that it is illegal to behave like this, to turn people down for employment based on their gender, race or ethnic identity," she says. "Israel is a very diverse society and to benefit properly from its population, it has to be mandatory for employers to adopt non-discriminatory business practices."
EVEN WITH all the challenges ahead, Koenig-Yair, who was hired to lead the commission for at least the next four years, says she is "very hopeful that I can really make a difference and that the commission will become a central focal point in the battle against discrimination in the workplace."
She describes how she recently met with her US counterpart, Christine M. Griffin, who was here to learn about what is happening in this country and who also met with National Labor Court President Steve Adler and representatives of the Palestinian Authority.
"She told me about how when the commission was started in the US in 1970, everyone thought they were crazy," says Koenig-Yair, pointing out that she was "born in the same year as the US commission."
"Today, however, the US commission is a well-established body that is well-respected and reliable," she says. "All it took was a few big legal cases before everyone recognized its potential."
Koenig-Yair is hopeful that the same thing will happen here. With most of the logistical work out of the way - setting up the office and hiring staff (she still has to appoint regional commissioners in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/South) - the new commissioner is looking ahead to tackling some of her objectives.
In her initial work plan, Koenig-Yair outlines her main goals as "promoting the mainstreaming of equality and the elimination of discrimination in the workforce, fostering public awareness of the cost of discrimination and becoming the focal point for information on discrimination in the workplace."
She also wants to increase employment security and promote financial independence and social empowerment.
"I want the commission to become the center of information and research on discrimination in the workplace," she says, adding that the office is set to release its first publication: "A Guide to Better Business Practices for Employers."
"Employers need to realize that they can profit from a diverse workplace and that it is in their best interest to do that," says Koenig-Yair. "A diverse workplace allows for a range of different opinions, voices and professional styles that lets a business prosper. Just ask Ofra Strauss [head of food manufacturer Strauss Group], she's often been quoted as saying that it is diversity that has let her company grow."
Koenig-Yair also points to international research that supports the view that diversity is good for business.
"This is not just a mission statement, our aim is also to change an entire way of life," she says. "Of course it needs to be done by self-compliance and only hard work will make us able to persuade people that discrimination is harmful to business, and multiculturalism, being open-minded, will help business."
BORN IN Brooklyn in 1970, Koenig-Yair immigrated in 1981 with her family. She spent her first years at the absorption center in Mevaseret Zion, moving later to Ra'anana. After completing her army service, she enrolled in the Hebrew University's Law Faculty.
Upon graduation she started working for a private law practice but very quickly found her way into the public sector as a Tel Aviv district attorney.
It was only after the birth of her first child in 1999, however, that she turned her attention fully to working for social law issues, first as a volunteer for the IWN and later heading its legal department.
It was during her time there that she first became interested and involved in promoting equality in the workplace.
In 2003, she was sent by the British Council, which was the impetus behind the legislation for establishing the EEOC, to Northern Ireland to observe how such issues are tackled there.
A year later, she was selected by business newspaper Globes as one of the country's 50 most influential women.
After her return from Ireland, Koenig-Yair started to work with Ruth Ben-Israel, winner of the Israel Prize for Law, on drafting the bill establishing the EEOC. "It took a year and four months for the bill to be drafted and for it to be approved by the Knesset in December 2005," she says. Two years later the commission was established.
"In Israel, we have fantastic laws but not all of them are enforced," she continues, explaining why it was important for her to apply to become the commissioner herself and take over the process of enforcing the law. "I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to change things and was extremely honored when the minister offered the job to me.
"I really hope that I will be able to make an impact on the workforce, as well as on society in general by eliminating at least some of the discrimination."
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