ESHET CHAYIL: Empowering Ethiopian Women through Employment

For many of Israel's immigrants, job hunting in Israel means coping with these pressures in a new language and a totally foreign culture.

For many Ethiopian-Israelis this job search will be the first time they have had to apply for a position and although they may have developed and used many skills in their home communities, it is the first time they have had to negotiate conditions and a salary for their labour.

For numerous Ethiopian Israeli women looking for work means dealing with all these challenges while at the same time considering childcare arrangements and maintaining a household in a new environment. Managing all of these concerns can make the prospect going to work seem terrifying, prohibitively so. In fact this disabling fear more than partially explains why unemployment within Israel's 100,000-strong Ethiopian-Israeli community is 34 percent higher for women than for men.

Such was the situation that faced Mulo, a thirty-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli mother of two who arrived in Israel through Operation Solomon in 1991. Unemployed and at home, Mulo lacked the Hebrew language skills and the self-confidence she needed to find work or even to make friends.

Encouraged by a neighbour to join her at the ESHET CHAYIL (Women of Valor) club, a JDC program which prepares immigrant women for the Israeli workplace, Mulo began to attend weekly meetings, making friends with other members of her community who shared similar fears and experiences of isolation.

Through ESHET CHAYIL Mulo learned about the realities of working in Israel. The program's Hebrew classes and job preparation workshops taught her about interview techniques, family adjustment and employer's expectations.

After attending meetings for six weeks, Mulo felt ready to start seeking employment. Working with a mentor and with the support of the group and her new interview skills she successfully found work as a cleaner in a factory. There she met other employees and felt able to chat to them, gaining and building new confidence in herself.

Mulo continued to attend ESHET CHAYIL and her communication skills improved as she shared her experiences and concerns with other members and her mentor. In fact when Mulo, found herself working around computers and being exposed to technology for the first time she not only discovered a new interest, but she felt confident enough to ask her employer if she could learn this skill. With the factory's assistance she took a computer course and was even able to purchase a computer for her home.

Today, well on her way to a better future, Mulo mentors other women in her community through ESHET CHAYIL. She is just one of nearly 1,500 Ethiopian-Israeli women who have benefited from the ESHET CHAYIL program. Today, JDC operates ESHET CHAYIL in 14 cities across Israel in partnership with the Ministries of Absorption and Welfare and the Israel Women's Network. The program's success has led to its introduction for Kavkazi women.

For Mulo and many others the program has proved to be more than just an effective means for isolated women to find work and break their families out of the cycle of poverty. Thanks to ESHET CHAYIL these women have tools to develop a better self-image, forge firm friendships and feel more self-assured in their new country.