Why the JC is well-balanced

Guardian writer Kira Cochrane recently complained of male bias in the press, with almost 80 per cent of articles written by men.

Allow us to blow our own trumpet. A byline count of recent JCs shows nearly half of our articles were by women.

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Anti-segregation victory as women allowed to eulogise

Women will be allowed to eulogise at all Jewish funerals in Israel, the country's Religious Services Ministry has announced.

Burial in Israel is paid for by the state but provided by religious burial societies, many of which operate according to very strict Orthodox standards.

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Women still absent from Jewish leadership

Fewer than a quarter of the trustees of leading Jewish organisations in the UK are women, according to a report from a commission into women and leadership in British Jewry.

Only 21 per cent of trustees of organisations affiliated to the Jewish Leadership Council were women; only a quarter of those had female chief executives; and only a quarter of the members of the Board of Deputies were wome

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Hillary Clinton enters Israel gender dispute

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar have joined the war of words over women's rights and gender segregation in public areas in Israel.

In recent months there have been reports of Orthodox passengers enforcing a de facto segregation system on buses in Jerusalem and other areas, with woman being told to sit at the back.

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Warning over religious coercion in IDF sparks anger

A petition signed by 19 former generals cautioning against religious coercion in the IDF is causing uproar in the army.

The petition follows series of flashpoints involving religious soldiers.

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Women to interview Chief Rabbi hopefuls

The United Synagogue has ruled out holding an election for the next Chief Rabbi, arguing that it is not the way to get the best candidate for what it says is the world's top rabbinic job.

Stephen Pack, president of the US and chairman of the Chief Rabbinate Trust, announced this week that the choice of successor to Lord Sacks would largely rest with an inner circle of eight people.

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Israeli orchestra cuts women from concert line-up

A concert featuring three Israeli performers has been removed from an Ashdod orchestra's schedule after religious audience members objected to its inclusion.

The Israel Prize-winning Andalusian Orchestra, which specialises in Sephardic music, originally planned to feature the three women in one concert of its January series.

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Stanmore women meet in shul at last

An Orthodox women's prayer group will congregate for the first time on synagogue premises this Saturday after having to meet elsewhere for 18 years.

The Stanmore Women's Tefilah Group - now known as Women's Learning Experience - was banned from holding women-only Shabbat services in the synagogue by Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks.

Stanmore Synagogue vice-chair Jackie Rudolph said they could now meet

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Cash fears of Women's Aid

A charity dedicated to helping Jewish women who have been victims of domestic violence is fearing a significant loss of income through local authority cuts.

Jewish Women's Aid - which runs the only Jewish women's refuge in Europe - says £180,000 of its £700,000 annual budget is at risk.

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Long past the time for women on board

In February, Lord Davies of Abersoch, the former Trade Minister, published his report Women on Boards. In it, he gave the chairmen of FTSE 350 companies until this month to set out the percentage of women they aim to have on their boards by 2013 and then 2015.

Lord Davies was responding to an invitation from the government to promote gender equality on the boards of listed companies.

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Wizo quits West End

After half-a-century in central London, Wizo UK will be moving from its Baker Street premises to a more practical location.

The women's charity expects to transfer to north-west London offices by the end of the year.

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Wohl £1.2m helps improve the job prospects of indigent Ukrainians

A £1.2 million grant from the Wohl Foundation is enabling World Jewish Relief to launch a project giving employment skills to poverty stricken Jews in Ukraine.

With the Prince of Wales as patron, the Ukrainian Livelihood Development Programme will run over three years, focusing on training single women and young mothers.

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