IWN takes a very active role in trying to improve the way that Israel's laws actually protect women from gender discrimination related to reproduction.

• IWN provides information and free legal advice through its Hotline
• IWN represents plaintiffs in precedent-setting cases that are selected in order to improve the effectiveness of the laws. One current suit involves an employee who alleges she was fired solely because she became pregnant -- the suit requests the court both to compensate her for her damages and to require the company to pay punitive damages as a deterrence to other employers. In another suit, IWN represents a woman who alleges that she was fired from her position with a local municipality solely because she missed too many work days after 3 maternity leaves.
• IWN's Center for Policy Research published a report in 1999 demonstrating the need to establish an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which would, among other functions, educate the public and enforce the labor laws.
• IWN is gathering signatures on a petition calling upon the government to establish an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• IWN carefully evaluates all calls to its Hotline to monitor the way the labor laws are implemented in the real world, so as to gauge which amendments could improve the effectiveness of these laws.
• IWN drafts amendments to the labor laws and then advocates for their enactment. For example, IWN drafted an amendment that would prohibit the Ministry from granting any permits that are effective retroactive to the date of dismissal. This amendment was introduced in the Knesset
• IWN's attorneys engage in correspondence with the Ministry of Labor and Welfare in order to try and prevent circumvention of the laws, and to encourage administrative reforms that will improve the Ministry's carrying out of the intent of the laws.

  IWN Recommendations Regarding the Ministry's Permit-Evaluation Procedures

  The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is allowed to give employers permission to dismiss employees who are pregnant, during or after maternity leave, or during fertility treatments -- as an exception to the law's prohibition against firing women during these times.

  IWN strongly believes that certain key aspects of the procedures of the Ministry of Labor and Welfare are seriously flawed. IWN's recommends that:

• The Ministry of Labor and Welfare must develop and distribute clear written guidelines for the procedures and standards used to evaluate whether to grant a permit to an employer.
• The Ministry must use greater caution before granting permits -- each request should be considered more carefully, including the circumstances of each case, the background of the employee, and the timing of the firing in relation to the pregnancy, maternity leave or fertility treatments.
• The Ministry should cease granting permits that are in effect retroactively to the date of the termination. Many employers fire employees prior to submitting the request for a permit to the Ministry, and then the Ministry grants the permit retroactively. This practice is extremely harmful, since the employees lose their jobs but are unable to claim unemployment benefits until the permits are granted.
• The Ministry should grant employees an opportunity to present their position after they are informed of the employer's claims as to why the termination is justified (in other words, not related to the pregnancy, maternity leave, or fertility treatment). Because the procedure is a quasi-judicial one, it is inappropriate for the employers to present their claims as to why the dismissal is not based on illegal discrimination, without giving the employee a chance to respond.