Lieberman and Michaeli's welcome initiative to allow men to give maternity leave is a significant step in reducing inequality between women and men in Israel, but there is still a long way to go for real change.
The wage gap between men and women currently stands at about 30% on average, and the main reason for these phenomena is childbirth.
Many employers see a young woman as a particular threat - within a few months she can announce that she is pregnant, and it will not be possible to fire her for many months.
After that she should be kept in office for at least half a year, and even when she returns from maternity leave it will not be possible to fire her for another period, and then of course she can conceive again.
Lieberman and Michaeli.
The road to equality is still long, Photo: Yonatan Zindel - Flash 90
In contrast, men can invest most of their energy in the workplace, often they are also less concerned with caring for children than women.
For these reasons, among others, women are promoted less than men - and we know the result: the proportion of women in senior positions in government and the business sector is significantly lower than their proportion in the population.
Moreover, even a decade after the first birth, women's wages remained 28% lower than men's.
As we gave birth and cared for the children, the men progressed.
When a woman of childbearing age wants to be accepted for a particular job, she is often asked questions that the employer would not dare ask any man - such as, "How will you get along with the children in the afternoon?"
Many mothers find themselves even making it clear to potential employers that they have no intention of having any more children.
Discrimination that must change
The current situation is of course discrimination and it must change, and the best solution is to provide maternity leave for men.
So the surprising announcement by Lieberman and Michaeli is of course an important step, but there is still a long way to go for the real correction.
The short period of two weeks will not really produce a change in the outdated thinking patterns of employers, it is not what will help correct the discrimination.
The real solution is to allow equal maternity leave for men and women, paid for by the state, as is the practice in quite a few countries in Europe.
Take Sweden, for example - both spouses can share maternity leave equally, and wonder of wonders - this country is headed by a woman, Magdalena Andshon.
And in Finland, which is also headed by a woman, Sana Marin, men are entitled to more than two months' maternity leave.
Beyond that, restricting men's leave to maternity leave from the 15th week onwards loses the point of helping new mothers recover from childbirth.
The first few weeks after giving birth are the most difficult for many mothers, and quite a few of them suffer from postpartum depression.
The presence of the father next to them would have made this phenomenon easier, and of course allowed the fathers to approach the soft babies from the first moment. A two-week maternity leave for men will cost the state hundreds of millions of shekels a year,
In light of the unprecedented surplus that has accumulated in the state coffers since the beginning of the year, the obvious question of "why does the government not announce a more substantial step" is asked?
One that has really created a change in the world of employment and will even slightly correct the discrimination that has existed for so many years between men and women.
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