Mitzvah Day's Laura Marks sweeps the Board of Deputies poll

The head of a campaign to encourage more women into Jewish leadership roles set the perfect example on Sunday when she topped the poll for vice-president of the Board of Deputies. Laura Marks, founder of the cross-communal social action event Mitzvah Day, was elected senior vice-president - just four months after becoming a deputy.

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Minister offended after Orthodox Israeli refuses to shake her hand

A Belgian minister has complained that a Charedi counterpart refused to shake hands at an official meeting with her because she is a woman.

Laurette Onkelinx was in Geneva at the World Health Assembly conference with Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman when she offered her hand as a greeting.

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Kiddush can't keep our community alive

I was in Carluccio's in St John's Wood having breakfast, planning a fundraiser. It was for the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies but it might have been for any one of the plethora of Jewish organisations. The restaurant was full of women ready for the gym - dynamic, educated, powerful women.

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Strong support for quotas on women leaders

A third of British Jews believe Jewish organisations should positively discriminate in favour of senior female candidates in top positions through set quotas, a survey has found.

And almost 90 per cent of British Jews believe women should be able to chair and be trustees of synagogues - despite a continued stalemate on the issue.

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Women refuse singing ban

A group of South African women are fighting to overturn a ban on them singing at community events.

They released a protest video on Friday to coincide with Freedom Day, which commemorates South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994.

They say women used to sing at events to mark such events as Israel Independence Day or Holocaust Memorial Day until they were stopped in Johannesburg

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Jewish politician wins place on Bahrain defence committee

A Jewish woman was appointed to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee in Bahrain last Sunday.

Bahrain-born Nancy Khedouri, who was named the committee's deputy chairwoman, is the third Jew elected by parliamentary peers to the 38 member upper house Shura Council, Bahrain's main legislative body.

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Outcry over 'one-sided' Palestinian meeting

Hackney Council has promised to tighten bookings procedures after a complaint about a pro-Palestinian event held in one of its libraries on Tuesday night.

Martin Sugarman, chair of the Hackney Anglo-Israel Twinning Association, had called for the cancellation of the "one-sided" meeting at Dalston library, addressed by a group of visiting Palestinian women.

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Outcry over 'one-sided' Palestinian meeting

Hackney Council has promised to tighten bookings procedures after a complaint about a pro-Palestinian event held in one of its libraries on Tuesday night.

Martin Sugarman, chair of the Hackney Anglo-Israel Twinning Association, had called for the cancellation of the "one-sided" meeting at Dalston library, addressed by a group of visiting Palestinian women.

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Israel bans too-slim models

Until now, Israel's best-known contribution to the catwalk has been supermodel Bar Refaeli, but that may be about to change.

The Knesset passed a law this week that will prevent Israeli advertisers from using underweight models, including those who appear underweight, and force publications to acknowledge when photographs are airbrushed to make models appear slimmer.

Models working in Israel

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Our nights out with the girls...

The other week Victoria Beckham tweeted a photo with the caption "night out with the girlies".

As I, too, had just had an exceedingly jolly night out with the girlies (if women all the wrong side of 40 can be called 'girlies') I had a little look to see how our evenings might compare.

Her girlies turned out to include Eva Longoria and the Williams sisters. Mine… did not.

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Minyanim are a staple of future Southgate plans

Leaders of Cockfosters and North Southgate Synagogue are consulting members over a redevelopment plan for one of the United Synagogue's most geographically spread-out areas.

A strategic report calls for a "completely new premises model" for the future with a community centre and a network of local minyanim which could also accommodate members of Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue.

The pla

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No credit for Trinny & Su ad

British fashionistas Trinny and Susannah, now household names in Israel, recently appeared in an advert for a local credit-card company, in which they advised - in Hebrew - a young woman to tell her boyfriend of her love of shopping.

But it didn't play well with Wizo, who shortlisted it for the country's most sexist ad of the year award.

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Wanted: more strong women

If you're reading this in a café, take a quick look around. If you're at home near a busy street, glance out the window. Chances are you'll see a fairly even mix of men and women - but, once you get to the boardroom or walk the corridors of power, all that changes.

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