Lesbian business forum launched
New venture aims to promote joint business interests among Lesbians; Facebook invitation draws 70 women to launch
A group of 70 women convened in Tel Aviv last Friday in the first official gathering of "The Girlfriends' Club," a newly established forum of lesbian businesswomen.
The event was organized by Laor Dotan-Ad, 35, an event coordinator who came up with the concept after divorcing her partner.
"We had a horrible breakup. Breaking up with a woman is much worse than with a man. Women are meaner towards each other," she said.
Dotan-Ad related her experience of her return to the lesbian singles market, which she found more difficult than she thought.
"I realized that strong women of the lesbian community were nowhere to be found," she said. "They were hiding in their homes."
She then decided to create the "Girlfriends' Club" in order to "pull lesbians out of their routine and complacency."
Dotan-Ad envisions senior lesbian executives socializing in parties, dinners or day-time trips once a month, in addition to large-scale conferences every quarter. The forum is also working on compiling a list of female service providers (electricians, auto-repairwomen) for the benefit of forum members.
'We must change'
The women were invited to the club via the Facebook social network, yet despite the fact that some 70 women showed up at the event, Dotan-Ad was hoping to reach a more senior-ranking audience, she said.
The conference was eventually attended by medium-low ranking managers, lawyers, hirelings and a handful of straight women.
Galit Ben-Simhon, 47, CEO of a strategic consulting company said: "It bothers me that the lesbian voice isn't being heard, despite the fact that we are very opinionated and powerful women. We must change."
Referring to the issue of "coming out of the closet" Ben-Simhon noted, "It's not a right to talk about it and identify oneself as such, it's a duty!."
