It’s International Women’s Day, and the stats come rolling out. In Israel, we read that only 12.9% of CEOs in leading companies are women, up from 8.4% just 2 years ago. In the army, nearly half of the lower officer ranks are filled by women, roughly commensurate to the gender proportion. By the level of Brigadier-General, only 3% are women.

Good? Bad? Getting better? Better compared to others? However you look at it, there is still much to do. And that comes from a country, which was one of the first to have a female Prime Minister. And but for a few thousand votes, a second lady, Tzipi Livni, was almost installed last year.

Clearly, society has much more to learn. There have been 3 major rape case in as many months involving females still at school. The most recent incident concerned students from a well-to-do neighbourhood. What has not been established is if the number of incidents has increased in recent years or if it is case that more are reaching the attention of the police.

By way of comparison, a women’s rights group in Gaza has documented how females are frequently denied their inheritance. The Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights has consistently reported on the abuses of female rights, rapes that have gone without investigation, family honour killings, and more.

An interesting way forward came to light last month. There was a competition for the most sexist Israeli adverts of 2009. The implication was that the ads were of poor taste. If that message gets through to more and more people, then Israel will continue to break down the social gaps between the two genders.