I have just heard a fascinating approach to helping women enter the labour market in Israel.

What’s so special about that? Ultra-orthodox or Haredi women have often been held back from working. Their culture and society effectively “keep them in the kitchen and nurseries” even when they have solid qualifications. Other factors, such as not working directly with men or high maternity levels, have kept them unemployed.

Along comes Ms Libie Affen. A feminist? I am not so sure. Libie is a Haredi lady with a masters degree and the COO of Matrix, a leading Israeli high tech company. With a spin off from matrix, she has established a profitable company to employ Haredi es, to give them the conditions they require, and to produce quality output as demanded by Fortune 500 companies.

She currently employs 450 ladies, most of them software engineers or equivalent. One of the conditions is that they are provided rivate transport to and from the client. This allows them to deal with children int he evening and protect their modesty demands.

Now here’s the real “wow” factor. Libie has been asked to explain this model to a female cooperative in Detroit. And to take this one step further, the Palestinian Authority has also been in contact.

Why did I write this? Did you realise that Israel is about to swear in a female Prime Minister. She will sit along side the female head of the Supreme Court and Madam Speaker of the Kenesset.