Israeli VC on Sand Hill road

Big Win for Israeli Career Families

Finally… after 4 years, Israeli court ruled the other day that working women will be allowed to recognize childcare costs as an expense, taking a tax deduction. The logic is quite simple.  According to the tax laws, expenses required in order to directly generate income, are recognized for tax purposes.  In my family (just like many others), we have a nanny.  There is no way on this planet that we would survive a 2–career family without this essential expense.  Either my husband or I would have to stay home to take care of the kids, and of course generate no income.  Hence the income-related expense.

Simple to me, not to the tax authorities… of course, they will appeal to the higher court.  Stay tuned.

(Note the image…Rosie the Riveter, Poster for Working Women During WWII)

Tags: childcare+tax+deduction, israeli+childcare, working+mothers

Moving the Sabbath to Wednesday

Managing the Life-Work balance for professionals is a big issue. It’s even a bigger deal for professional women, who try to juggle between demanding jobs, ambition, being a real “mom”, and heaven forbid, having some time for themselves.  

I was talking to Lisa, a close friend and entrepreneur, about this subject (somehow, it always comes up in our discussions…).  She told me about a Cardiologist mom of one of her kids friends that has very strict rules about work; she has 2 days a week on which after 2pm she does not work and she can not be on call.

She asked her, “but what if one of your patients just after surgery is not doing well and needs you?”. The Dr. replied said “there is always a replacement doctor; I am not available under any circumstances”.

Wow! If she can say that with the life of a human on her hands, why can’t I do that with what I am doing – no one will die and no deal will explode if there was one afternoon I was not available.

It’s not that I haven’t tried (as has Lisa).  Somehow, on that day that I have set aside to “leave early” (4pm for me), there is always some meeting that just can’t be scheduled at any other time but that. 

I wonder – does professionalism overide that bold decision of leaving early, or is it the lack of understanding of the others to this need of mine?  So what will happen if this “very important meeting” gets pushed out by a week?

I often offer advice to others on the subject, using orthodox jews as an example.  You would never think to call, or ask someone to work on a Friday night or Saturday, right?  It’s just not an option. Period.

Perhaps Lisa and I need to redefine the Sabbath, starting on Wednesday at 4PM (or earlier?), lasting until Thursday morning .

 

Tags: professional+women, life+work+balance

First women to receive Turing Award

The prestigious Turing Award has been given annually for the past 41 years  – and finally – a women, Fran Allen, is it’s recipient.  Isn’t it amazing how we STILL have the first women this, and the first women that… and it’s 2007!

Fran Allen has some encouraging messages for women and views the change in the work environment as one that will help women advance in scientific careers.

It is my belief that beyond the evolving work environments, the fundamental change will come from home and school during a girls earlier years.  It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to make sure that both girls and boys are pushed to science - if that is where their personal strengths lie.  I don’t have any girls to push…. but I do have a niece

 

 

Tags: Turing+Award, Frances+Allen, Women+in+science

Women in the Board Room - where are they??

The Mercury New’s leading VC story is entitled “Women likely to remain rare in boardrooms”. The article is well worth the read, but fundamentally, it all goes back to the same core issue.  Until there will be more women executives and venture capitalist, this will not change. It's a prerequisite to hold key corporate positions, which train you and give you access to the next step. The higher you climb in this corporate world, the fewer women. The transition to Venture Capital typically goes through the corporate world, and for that reason, there are fewer women VC’s too.  It’s going to take quite awhile for this to change. 

Incidentally, right now, I am the only women on all of my boards.  In fact, this is usually the case, but every once in awhile, one of my women VC colleagues and I share a common board. 

BTW - publicly traded Israeli companies - are required by law to have a women in the board of directors.  This is part of the broader discussion about affirmative action, but does force the issue.

International Women's Day '07

Today is International Women's Day, the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential.  I look forward to the day for when we don't require a special day in order to inspire women...

In today's Haaretz newspaper, the front page of the Gallery section, features an article about the women that help professional women do their job - the nannies.  (Eshkar - our nanny - was also interviewed for this article.) It's absolutely essential to have outstanding support at home, to allow us to do our professional job.  Last year, on a day of great frustration, I blogged about what happens when your nanny doesn't come to work...  But we all need to remember that although a great Nanny is a must-have, so are others:  your friends, the kids, extended family members... and the husband!

technorati tags: international womens day professional women nanny

The Marker Conference on Women and Business

This morning, it was my privilege to share a panel with 3 exceptional women (Tally Eitan, Tali Oren and Aliza Tamir) to discuss some of the issues relating to women in corporations, in Israel and abroad. 

Often, when I’m asked to participate in such panel discussions, I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or bad.  Why should there be a conference on the subject of Women and Business, rather than just a conference on Business?  The answer is pretty straight forward – it’s all in the numbers.  When you look at the % of women in the workforce (~50%), and compare those to the number in management positions (~16%), etc., it’s easy to understand the need to raise the awareness within this community (and others).

Although I wasn’t able to attend the entire conference, I was there for Zehavit Yosef-Cohen and Tmira Yardeni’s keynotes.  Every once in awhile, it’s great to hear other peoples stories, challenges and success.  It is truly inspiring.  Thank you “The Marker”.

technorati tags: the marker women the marker

Parenthood, Bribery, Peter Pan and Sleeping through the Night

Desperate people do desperate things. Desperate parents do stupid things, or at least things that they would have never believed they would every do.

At age 3.5, my son Ben visits his parents bed every night. During these visits, he takes his place right in between us, not usually lengthwise!  We’ve tried many different approaches to terminate this behavior, but usually, we’re just too tired to put him back in his own bed, so we all just move over, and King Ben takes control.

Here is where Peter Pan becomes the hero of this story.  During my last trip to the states, I bought the full Peter Pan costume (on sale now at Disneystore.com).  He was very excited about this character, and then  … I decided to give him the costume in pieces (knife, hat, shoes, etc.), conditional upon going to sleep by himself, and waking up in his own bed in the morning.  Big surprise – it worked!!!  This form of bribery is certainly justified – it’s win-win for all

technorati tags: sleeping through the night peter pan

When is the right time to take maternity leave???

I’ve often stated that maternity leave should be taken when the kids are older, rather than as babies… Not that I’m in any way suggesting that you do not need that time when the baby is born (recovering from delivery, bonding with your newborn, adjusting to the new life, etc.).  Actually, you need it at least twice in each childs life - when they’re born, and when they become a teenager.

As many other professional women , I too had a very questionable maternity leave with Yoav (son #2) and Ben (son #3), now ages 9 and 3.  Questionable, or more specifically, I never really had one.  With Jonathan (my oldest), I had decided that I was not going to return to my marketing job at Sun, as the plan was to move back to Israel.  It took me about 4 months to go back to work.  If you call moving countries, looking for a new job, while caring for a baby, maternity leave, I suppose I had one in 1993.

Now I find myself with 3 growing boys (including 1 teenager), having just moved back again from Silicon Valley to Israel, trying to finalize the process of settling back home in Israel.  Given that the “superwomen” approach has many limitations, I’ve decided it’s time to take my maternity leave

For the next 2 months, I will be spending time with my family, making sure we’re all fully adjusted, re-charging my own battery and cooking soup (ok, maybe I’ll buy a few pairs of shoes too).  2 months seems like a long time, but in the venture capital business, it’s not very long at all.  I suppose my blog subjects will change a bit to reflect the challenges of crackberry withdrawal, and other phenomena associated with the workaholic on a break, so we’ll see.  Bear with me.

technorati tags: maternity leave crackberry

Israeli VC returns from Cabo

I realize that I had intended on posting while in Cabo…

When I originally received the invitation to this event, my first reaction was – “Sounds like fun, but I can’t justify it”.  However, after having spent 3 days with my peers, the only thing I can say is “I hope I get invited again next year!”.  This is the first time that I’ve ever taken 3 days away from my family for what appears to be the classic boondoogle.  During these 3 days, I met fabulous women with diverse personal backgrounds that all share a common language - “venture capital”. 

The VC business is very much a people business.  We invest in entrepreneurs that we believe in and can communicate with, and we co-invest with other VC’s whom we trust, respect, and feel that we can work with.  Bottom line – it’s all about relationships.

For me, Cabo was a fantastic opportunity to take time off, build and strengthen relationships with people that I hope to be able to work with in the future. 

Thanks to the organizers (!!!) and to the women that took the time to participate!  Hope to see you soon, in the board room or Cabo 2007 

 technorati tags: cabo san lucas boondoggle

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Happy Mother's Day to all moms in the blogosphere (and elsewhere!).  What inspired me this morning was the newspaper... I opened my Sunday Mercury News and on the back page of one of the sections, Fry's Electronics had their traditional advertisment page.  Only this time, the headline was "Mother's Day Gift Ideas!" written in a nice pink color, accented with roses, hearts and pearls.   When I glanced through their recommendations, I burst into laughter.  Here are some of their creative ideas:

• 
• XIII the Official Game (for Playstation, XBox or GameCube)
• "Every Man for Himself", Music CD
• Full Auto, Video Game for XBOX 360
• Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix for GameCube
• Various anti-virus and other software
• Books about Ajax, Quickbooks, etc.

Hey guys over there at Fry's - you certainly think out-of-the-box... I personally prefer flowers or better yet - shoes :-)

Happy Mother's Day.

technorati tags: mothers day women gift ideas Frys electronics