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| Ola Sergatchov (VIN) |
Ola Sergatchov, Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Guardicore Ltd., a Tel-Aviv based cyber company and a Chareidi cybersecurity professional, has been voted one of the top 25 women leaders of cybersecurity worldwide. Sergatchov, one of 7 Israelis in the list, was described by the judges who made the decision as having “a unique mix of technical skills, strategic experience, and an understanding of the services industry.”
I don’t think I need to say that I’m not surprised. She is certainly not the first woman to achieve great success. Judge Ruchie Frieir has certainly achieved similar success and recognition in America where Charedi attitudes about women’s education are a bit more open minded. Ola Sergatchov lives in Israel where attitudes about that are a bit more complicated. The point, though, is that being religious and/or being a woman need not impede success. Even if she is Charedi.
What about my frequent complaint about the lack of a decent secular education in the Charedi world of Israel? I still believe that to be the case. There is none. A paradigm for a secular education does not exist. But that is only true for men. Charedi women generally do get a secular studies education. They have to. Because they end up being the bread winners. Since men are encouraged to learn Torah full time for as long as they can. They do not get any secular studies education at all.
Women don’t have this problem.
Nevertheless, there is still some push-back by the Charedi leadership about women taking jobs outside of their community. They are encouraged to seek teaching jobs within it instead. The fear is that the secular environment in which they will find themselves will negatively influence their spirituality. And create uncomfortable situations requiring some sort of compromise to their religious standards. I have also been told that some Charedi leaders also fear that if a woman takes a better or higher paying job than her husband, it might cause Shalom Bayis issues (disruption of family peace).
Fortunately feeding one’s family has trumped this attitude among many (maybe even most) Charedi families. Which has enabled someone like Ola Sergatchov to achieve worldwide recognition in her field.
But her story is not that simple. Because as she says, she had an advantage over other Charedi women. She was raised in a secular family who placed a high value on education.
The implication of that is that even though Charedi women do get a secular education, it falls short of what is available to the general public. Additionally it implies that most Charedi women are not as motivated to try and achieve what she did. It seems that the kind motivation Ola Sergatchov had in her home is lacking in the Charedi home and in their schools. Which is understandable if - as noted - they are discouraged from taking jobs outside of their community. I’m therefore happy to see that she rejects that idea and is currently trying to recruit more Charedi women to join her in this field.
I hope she succeeds. I only wish she could do motivate Charedi men to do the same. But I doubt that even a bright and talented woman like Ola Sergatchov can achieve the impossible. Changing the Charedi paradigm from one that encourages learning Torah full time without any preparation for the workforce to one that does - is an entrenched obstacle that has thus far been insurmountable. But that does not mean we can't be proud of Ola Sergatchov's achievement. I am! As we all should be.