The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

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Hanna Bar-Yishay

Hanna Bar-Yishay is a lecturer at the Hebrew University and University of Derby in Israel, where she teaches gender economics and economics of education. She received her Ph.D. in economic history from the University of Minnesota. Her academic interests include women in the labor force, education and labor force participation and economic aspects of education.

Articles by this author

Three men and one woman sit on the floor surrounded by crates of oranges they are packing.

Women in the Yishuv Workforce

A review of data and statistics about women in the Yishuv workforce from about 1920 to 1945 show that women’s participation in the workforce correlated with higher levels of economic development. Though women contributed to the growth of an economy in pre-state Palestine, they often faced discrimination in what positions they could take and in their wages.