All in Her Day's Work: Women from Atlanta's Jewish Households in the Workplace
Fern Chertok, Rachel Minkin, and Matthew Brookner
March 2020
The Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta (JWFA) promotes social change to strategically impact the Atlanta community by addressing the most pressing needs of local women and girls. This research expands JWFA’s knowledge about the needs and concerns of contemporary working women in Jewish households and produces actionable findings that will enable JWFA to make decisions about how to best allocate resources to empower Jewish women and promote their equitable access to opportunities and wellbeing.
The current study examined the issues and challenges facing working women from Jewish households in Greater Atlanta, including women who identified as Jewish, as well women who were not Jewish themselves but were partnered to someone who identified as Jewish. Starting with an exploration of their animating concerns and desires for themselves, their careers and their families, the study addressed the following research questions:
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What are the self-identified needs and concerns of working women?
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What challenges face women entering the workforce or re-entering after prolonged absence?
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What obstacles and issues have women faced in achieving their desired level of work-life balance?
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How satisfied are women with the opportunities available to them for mentoring and career advancement?
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What are the experiences of working women with gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment in their places of employment, and how have these affected their careers?
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In what ways, if any, do current programs, activities, and institutions address the needs and concerns of working women, and where do available resources fall short?