Leading Edge Undertakes Groundbreaking Research to Address Gender Disparities in Jewish Nonprofits
The Safety Respect Equity Coalition announced a capacity building grant to Leading Edge for groundbreaking work to advance women’s leadership and address gender inequity in Jewish organizations.
Despite an emerging consensus that the Jewish community suffers from a paucity of women in leadership positions, there is little validated research that looks at this challenge from the perspective of the system. In fact, this lack of information may itself play a role in perpetuating the gender gap in leadership. In order to lay the foundation for new initiatives to tackle this gap, Leading Edge will undertake a rigorous research process that asks: “Why are there so few women in senior leadership positions in the Jewish nonprofit sector and what might be done to close the gender gap?”
The SRE grant to Leading Edge will allow us to launch a rigorous research process that will address the root causes behind why the Jewish community suffers from a paucity of women in leadership positions. The SRE Coalition works to ensure safe, respectful, and equitable Jewish workplaces and communal spaces by addressing sexual harassment, sexism, and gender discrimination.
The three main objectives of this project are:
1. To engage a broad range of stakeholders in a rigorous process to identify the keystone factors that are inhibiting gender parity in leadership. This process will include a literature review of previous research on this issue.
2. To create a platform to share this data and embed the findings in the public consciousness of those who hold power within the Jewish nonprofit sector.
3. To lay the groundwork for implementing the highest-leverage opportunities for impact.
Leading Edge believes that not only is achieving gender parity in leadership the right thing to do, it is also critical to solving the complex problems facing our community today. The Jewish community needs a multiplicity of voices to lead us into the future and we need to deploy all of our available talent in service of achieving our mission as a community.