An Israeli University Where Female Leaders Strengthen Today, Shape Tomorrow

When women enter the workforce, they boost productivity and economic strength. According to McKinsey & Company, advancing gender equality could add $12 trillion to global GDP by 2025. Further, a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that having more women in leadership positions can increase profitability by 15% and elevate company performance overall. This economic impact underscores the importance of promoting women to senior roles, both in academia and beyond.

On March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day—a moment to recognize and amplify the contributions of women in academia and beyond. At Bar-Ilan University (BIU), we are committed to fostering an environment where women faculty, researchers, and future leaders thrive, driving innovation and progress across disciplines.

Under President Arie Zaban’s leadership, BIU has made a strong commitment to elevating these inspiring women into senior roles, fostering a more dynamic academic community. Prof. Orna Sasson-Levy leads the university’s gender equity initiatives, with BIU pioneering a unique model in academia that focuses on providing women with training and mentorship on their path to leadership. Today, women account for 80% of faculty deans at BIU as well as 50% of Senate members, with the latter group responsible for shaping the institution’s strategic direction.

At BIU, women are leading groundbreaking research that drives positive change. Dr. Sivan Spitzer, an organizational sociologist, is dedicated to tackling income-related disparities in healthcare access through her work with the Health Equity Advancement Lab (HEAL) and the Russell Berrie SPHERE program. Her research focuses on creating systemic change to ensure that underserved communities receive equitable healthcare. By developing innovative strategies to improve medication adherence and enhance patient care, Dr. Spitzer is making a meaningful impact on health outcomes, reinforcing BIU’s commitment to advancing equity in medicine and beyond.

Garnering similar accolades is BIU’s Prof. Sarit Kraus, one of the world’s leading researchers in multi-agent systems — in which computers, robots, and humans interact and work collaboratively to solve problems. In 2020, the Association for Computing Machinery recognized Prof. Kraus for her foundational contributions to artificial intelligence. She has also received the Research Excellence Award from the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. By deepening understanding of how computers, robots, and other agents can interact proficiently with humans, her research has applications in security, intelligent cars, training, automated negotiations and mediation, and rehabilitation.

Influential women are also at the forefront of Bar-Ilan’s “Third Mission:” contributing to society and strengthening Jewish-cultural resilience. BIU is strongly committed to the Jewish value of strengthening the Israeli population and to protecting the most vulnerable individuals among us.

These values are powerfully transmitted through the work of Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Founding Academic Director of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at BIU’s Faculty of Law. She has led the fight for women’s rights and gender equality in Israel and internationally for over two decades, including as Vice Chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The Rackman Center promotes the status of women in matters of family law and seeks to end gender discrimination and inequality in Israel. The center runs a legal aid program for women in family law, and it engages in promoting legal and social change for women and women’s empowerment.

For more than two decades, the Rackman Center has laid the groundwork for Prof. Halperin-Kaddari’s latest endeavor — The Dinah Project, which is the leading initiative in Israel and the world that seeks justice and recognition for the victims of the sexual violence and gender-based atrocities executed by Hamas on October 7th. Dinah Project experts make dozens of public appearances and run briefings and consultations for hundreds of high-level diplomats and decision-makers, while Prof. Halperin-Kaddari provides commentary on this pressing issue in former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s documentary, Screams Before Silence: Bearing Witness to the Violence of October 7.

At Bar-Ilan, the present — not just the future — is female. And the world is a better place for it.