Assaf Rappaport, head of research and development at Microsoft Israel, recently said that the greatest missed opportunity in Israeli high-tech is the lack of women—they account for less than 20% of the high-tech workforce. Amnon Eldar, AMIT Director General, explains what the network is doing to combat that phenomenon.
When a group of girls from the AMIT Ramle Technological High School, one of the network’s vocational schools, couldn’t find summer jobs, they created an “escape room” at the school that they called “Escape from the Stigmas.” To escape, participants went on a scavenger hunt for letters that form the words respect, love, acceptance, and others. The room was such a hit that the girls had to extend its hours of operation.
Two 11th-grade AMIT students at the Elaine Silver Technological High School in Beersheva made history by becoming the first two female students—including the first Ethiopian girl ever—to enroll in the vocational school’s automotive electronics track. “Everyone says that this is men’s work, but we wanted to show that it’s not only for men,” said Malka Rata, one of the girls.
Bracha Amrousi, a math teacher at the AMIT Gwen Straus Junior and Senior Science High School for Boys, was named one of six “teachers of the nation” at a festive ceremony this week that was attended by President Reuven Rivlin and other dignitaries.
